With the 250th anniversary of the United States upon us, many different organizations are commemorating and celebrating the occasion in their own way.
Several have created special items or merchandise with patriotic theming, though none may top the largest example: multiple rail companies have created commemorative locomotives, including CSX.
Citizens crowded the Waycross train depot area Friday afternoon (June 26) to watch the new CM44AH units depart. The two locomotives, numbered 250 and 2026, feature commemorative patriotic paint jobs.
They were both painted at CSX’s Waycross rail yard, by a dedicated 9member paint crew.
James Brown, superintendent of the Waycross plant paint shop, described the flag and eagle designs as a collective process. He and lead painter Al Varnadore worked with higher ups at CSX corporate to develop the designs. “I’m very thankful that we were able to paint the locomotives here in Waycross,” Brown said. He added that he was “thankful for the opportunity, and thankful for those of us who fight for our freedom.”
Brown recalled thinking of Waycross veterans when thinking on the designs, including the late Sgt. Chad Mercer and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders, as well as retired veteran Milton Wade.
A Waycross native himself, Wade has worked with CSX for 20 years.
“When I look at what we do, it’s like being a kid and seeing your dreams come true,” said Wade.
During the reveal weeks before, CSX emphasized the role the company, and rail as a whole, has had on the country.
“Freight railroads have powered American growth and prosperity for more than two centuries,” CSX president and CEO Steve Angel said in the press release. “From the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, one of CSX’s predecessors and the nation’s first common carrier, to today’s CSX system, rail remains essential to the U.S. economy. These locomotives celebrate that unique American legacy and the people who made it possible.”
The locomotives passed through multiple towns with stops in Florence, S.C., and Richmond, Va., to similar crowds gathering, while en route to Washington D.C.
The train made a ceremonial trip through the nation’s capitol in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 30, stopping at Union Station. Both units will now be put into regular service by CSX.
The America 250 engines on their way to the nation’s capital. SPECIAL PHOTO
