copyright © Hugh Sinn; used by permission.

Hugh Sinn's story behind this engine goes as follows.

This Reading locomotive somehow managed to avoid the 1976 merger into Conrail, and survived by Reading being its usual frugal and thrifty self. The block of the Reading shop's "pet" switcher, an SW1, finally wore out a few years ago. They kept it in the back of the shop complex.

At some point, a later-series 567 V6 block somehow got dropped off, and slowly usable 567 rebuild parts where collected. Here and there, the shop forces worked on the engine, and out with the old, and in with the new. The body was gone over, and primed.

The U.S.' 250th birthday celebration wasn't really on anyone's radar, but it was time to give it a new, final paint job. The shop crew saw all the positive responses to the other railroads' 250th Anniversary-painted locomotives, and saw this as an opportunity. The usual dark-green and yellow just wasn't right. The paint crew found some Sky Blue. The general manager got wind of what was going on and reached out to his contact at the UP, and asked for permission to use the Waving Flag on the project. They were agreeable.

And, on this momentous occasion, this afternoon, #1776 made its maiden run.

Happy Birthday, America!

In the spirit that founded the United States of America, if no S manufacturer makes a special 250th Anniversary edition of a car or engine, Hugh said, "I'll do it myself!" The model is an S-Helper Service locomotive and the decals were large HO-scale ones he was able to find.