Happy Fourth of July!

Continuing my series of Bicentennial engines featured on our nation's birthday, here are some images of two of them. They belonged to the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad... the tiny 14 mile long shortline that grew into an international empire. 

The G&W's first engine to be painted in these colors was Alco S4 #36. This shot is dated October 25, 1985 Note hiding in even brighter orange paint behind her is Dansville & Mt. Morris #2 (featured elsewhere on my blog on my 44 tonner post here) It was later renumbered #1776 for the holiday, but later in life was renumbered back to #36 though it kept the colorful paint.

Another of the G&W's engines to wear red, white and blue was Alco RS1 #30, which in the spirit of the event was renumbered #1976. This picture of her is from September 16, 1983. She too reverted back to #30 but kept her paint.

Nearly every other engine on the G&W was, and still is, painted in the family trademark orange, black and yellow scheme. So, a bit of variety was a nice touch for this small western New York shortline. I have connections with the G&W as it controls the Rochester and Southern (R&S) which runs through my former hometown of Rochester, and it also controls the Dansville & Mt. Morris (D&MM) which runs through my wife's hometown. I have spent a lot of time railfanning both.

A search of my blog on July 4th will show some of my other featured engines.