Celebrating and Pandering

Throughout the twentieth century, steam locomotives were mostly black, with lighter smokeboxes, whose working temperature made the use of ordinary paint impractical. Rarely did they sport other colors—sometimes blue, green, or, in the case of the famous Southern Pacific GS-4s, red, orange, and silver.

The advent of diesel-electric road locomotives brought more color to the rails. The diesel’s largely flat sides facilitated decoration that the complex appliances outfitted to its stream predecessors never did. The new locomotives were billboards of color—silver, red, yellow, orange, purple, and others. Locomotive liveries usually advertised the operating railroad or, less frequently, the locomotive builder. No one could see the red, yellow, and silver warbonnet paint scheme on a GM locomotive and not know that it was motive power of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.

Infrequently, individual diesels were painted to celebrate an event, cause, or program—the Salt Lake City Olympics or Operation Lifesaver. In a time when consolidation in the railroad industry has eliminated so many famous names, successor railroads have taken to painting locomotives in the colors of railroads they had swallowed up. These “heritage” locomotives have been quite popular with the public, even if the liveries of the “fallen flags” had never been seen on more modern motive power. 

Lately, railroads have been painting engines to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. For example, Canadian Pacific Kansas City locomotive 1776 is mostly red with white lettering. Its undercarriage and trucks are blue, and four white stripes interrupt the red forward of a solid blue rear. Additional markings, including the America 250 logo and a tiny American flag, tastefully adorn the locomotive body.

Then there is the Union Pacific. It has a locomotive numbered 1776 that it decorated on the cheap. It is painted in UP’s standard armour yellow with silver trucks. There is a large American flag on each side, a design element similar to one that has appeared on its locomotives in the past. Like the CPKC’s commemorative locomotive, the America 250 logo appears on the side nose of the engine.

Then there is UP 4547. This locomotive, according to the railroad’s Web site, “was built in partnership with [locomotive builder] Wabtec,” though UP has provided only a drawing, not a photograph of the unit. The left and right sides of this engine are shown in this UP graphic:

Although UP 4547 is supposedly celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday, in reality, it is celebrating Donald J. Trump, whose name appears on both sides in gold lettering. The road number, of course, refers to Trump as the 45th and 47th president. The left side shows a gigantic, waving Betsy Ross flag; the right side shows a similarly depicted current U.S. flag. Where CPKC 1776 placed the America 250 logo, this locomotive displays an eagle derived very loosely from the Great Seal of the United States. The America 250 logo is nowhere to be seen.

Remarkably, UP CEO Jim Vena has insisted that this locomotive is simply honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary. “We’re actually celebrating America. We are not celebrating any individual,” he is quoted as saying. It is difficult to take this pronouncement seriously.  UP has been seeking government approval to buy Norfolk Southern. Its first merger proposal was rejected by the Surface Transportation Board as inadequate. A revised merger proposal was submitted to the STB on April 30. It is difficult to see locomotive 4547 as anything other than an attempt to win Trump’s favor by appealing to his ego.

Donald Trump regularly conflates his person with the United States itself. This is appalling and contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. It is equally appalling when a railroad does the same thing. Unfortunately, to get this administration to do what one wants it to do, it has become necessary to bribe the chief executive either by putting money into his pocket (or into the pockets of his family) or by appealing to his inflated ego. We are used to seeing this kind of pandering in banana republics; it is heartbreaking to see it in the United States.