Cumberland, MD 5/26/2012 - But for the "GCK" reporting marks on the side sill and an air conditioning unit placed above the cab of SD-35 7436, it would be hard to tell that this photograph was not made in the late 1960s or early 1970s as two vintage Western Maryland units proudly display their pristine heritage paint schemes. Placed nose-to-nose for delivery to the Western Maryland Scenic Railway for a dedication ceremony the following day, the two locomotives are dead-in-tow on CSX's Keystone Subdivision along Wills Creek in the Cumberland Narrows. More than just a tribute heritage paint scheme on some random set of locomotives, these SDs are the actual WM diesels that once wore these very colors and numbers, restored by the Georges Creek Railway for use in revenue service along 10 miles of former WM trackage in the Georges Creek valley southwest of Cumberland, MD. As we restored the WM 7436 and WM 7471 to their original paint scheme, we worked from original WM stencils and blueprints recovered from the Hagerstown shops in the 1980s--all placed precisely as they were on the WM locomotives in the 1960s. I was privileged to serve as the GCK's lead graphic designer for the project, working with Cumberland's General Graphics company to produce stencils that were applied by Metro East Industries in East St. Louis, IL.
From a hint of "Bee" (NKP 765), colorful "Bees" (KCS), "Bees" w/ "attitude", to "Bees" that "sting" your eyes, in their own way they have "Bee" on display! Equipment that "Buzzes" with Yellow & Black colors! ("Bees" can still "Bee" entering this "hive"!)
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
