How about a Heritage Fleet.

Just a thought. UP painted some units in heritage road livery and NS is in process of doing the same with 19 units. Amtrak did their own heritage paint on 5 units also. Wouldn't it be nice if Metra did the same. Take F40PHs and paint them for CNW, RI, Wabash, GM&O, MILW, etc., picking units that are named for the "home" road. They could do the same with some of the original Budd and Pullman coaches, like BNSF did.

Then, for icing on the cake; since 611 appears to be Metra's official ambassador to the Franklin Park Railroad Daze and Amtrak's National Train Day events, return it to its original appearance.

Oh well, wishful thinking again.

We've touched on this before I believe; and while I wouldn't mind seeing an F40 or two in CNW colors, I think we'll just have to make do with the "unofficial" heritage fleet already in place, such as the highliners on MED, the CB&Q era bilevels on BNSF, and the handful of Pullmans on UP. The highliners are set to be replaced in a couple of years, but I expect the other legacy equipment to roll on for awhile yet, especially since there's no money for newer cars coming anytime soon...

I know its only a pipe dream. Part of railfanning is imagination and I let mine go.

For consolation, the pervasive rust on the highliners is a somewhat similar to IC chocolate brown... It's going to be the first railcar fleet that returns to its carbon base while in operation still. A thousand years from now, the Richton Park yard is going to be a great source for iron ore.

Tad: Were the IC/ME Highliners built out of USS Cor-Ten Steel?

If so that steel type is designed to rust and become stronger over time...
I recall that some freight cars-specifically 70s era built hopper cars-used Cor-Ten steel...

It still surprises me that stainless steel was not used on the Highliner carbodies...

MACTRAXX

The Highliners were, indeed, Cor-Ten. However, Cor-Ten is normally not supposed to be painted, and the surface rust becomes a barrier surface just like paint would.

But the rust I speak of is like that on a Volkswagen that's been in a leaky barn for a few decades - the sills and door tracks are just rotted out, where water collected inside, and the rust started from the inside out. There's certain cars I can't believe are safe to operate because the sills are so rusty.

Check under the end-door on the middle car in this pic - that's a mild case of under-door rot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_vogel/4980233570/

MACTRAXX wrote:It still surprises me that stainless steel was not used on the Highliner carbodies...

By the time the Highliners appeared in 1971, St. Louis was already building stainless cars (PRR/SEPTA Silverliner III, NJT/NJDOT Arrow I, NYCT R38, 44).

I think that was a conscious decision on IC's part. Stainless is pricey. The highliners were a very careful move by IC to look interested in suburban trains without digging a big hole.

Here's a pretty cool shot of three cab cars at LaSalle St. back in the late '70s. What I find unusual in this pic are the blue signs on two of the trains that give the departure time and route; never knew that the Rock "labeled" its rush hour trains like that...

lets paint the south shore cars in the Orange.

dinwitty wrote:lets paint the south shore cars in the Orange.

Or at least put a stripe on the side of the 300 series cars ...

Mitch did a good job on the current 100/200 car paint schemes.

justalurker66 wrote:

dinwitty wrote:lets paint the south shore cars in the Orange.

Or at least put a stripe on the side of the 300 series cars ...

Mitch did a good job on the current 100/200 car paint schemes.

Yes, but the one with the wider orange band.

F40CFan wrote:Yes, but the one with the wider orange band.

For a "heritage" NICTD would need the curved ends on the bands. (30 years ago is heritage?)

After three years I'm getting used to the stripe free 300's. I'm glad they put the maroon stripe on the cab end ... it shows some respect for the older design style. And that (to me) is what heritage is about ... a nod to the past while one moves toward the future. The old line name signs on the Metra lines is a nice nod.

It would be "fun" to do a wrap of one of the old single level cars to make it look like an old orange car.

That wrap would be cool. However, to finish the illusion, it would have to simulate the canvas roof also.

Not quite a Metra heritage unit but it struck me as something that would look at home (or confusing to passengers! ) on the SWS . The new NS veterans unit: From the cab forward it looks like a Metra loco even with the flag down by the frame and everything. I'm not sure how to make a small link on here so I hope the one below works.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater