Locomotive Designs

Here are the designs for our locomotive roster.

Current Design (Era: 1991-)

This is the default paint scheme of the Riverside Central Railroad. This paint scheme is used throughout the roster on many of the RC's newer locomotives, such as the GP60s, GP38-2s, SW1500s, and GP15-1s. It is inspired by the Bangor & Aroostook and Wisconsin Central (two of my all-time favorite paint schemes).

The unit depicted here (and on the main page) is GP38-2 #2755, an ex-Santa Fe, exx-Toledo, Peoria, and Western locomotive purchased by the RC in Dec. 1992. Alternate timeline aside, this unit was renumbered by Santa Fe to #2380 in the late-'80s and still exists today (as of 2017) as BNSF's #2382. It remains in Santa Fe paint over 20 years after the BNSF merger.

Rock Island heritage unit #2005 (Era: 1990-)

GP7r #2005 was acquired in 1990 from Chicago & Northwestern. It was built in Dec. 1951 as CRI&P #1227, and was rebuilt by Precision National (following the dissolution of the Rock) sometime in 1980. The C&NW bought the locomotive in 1981, and renumbered it #4195. The RC purchased the locomotive and restored its original Rock Island paint scheme, which was very similar to the RC's.

Note: In reality, this locomotive survived into UP ownership, and was retired in 1997 after an incredible 46 years of service. While I don't necessarily consider the "Rock" one of my favorite railroads, I always really liked this classic Rock Island scheme and had to incorporate it into the RC's roster somehow.

Operation Lifesaver scheme #5809 (Era: 1993-)

Introduced as part of the nationwide "Operation Lifesaver" initiative, the unique look of SD40 #5809 has quickly become a fan-favorite paint scheme. The overall lack of RC red is overshadowed by the experimental "high-visibility" stripes on the ends of the locomotive.

The stripes on the ends are reminiscent of the Burlington Northern (in a forward slash (/) direction), and the all-black body is inspired by Illinois Central's OLS scheme. #5809 is a former Union Pacific locomotive (#3074) that was briefly owned by Motive Power Industries (#9016). The locomotive was upgraded to Dash-2 electrical standards by MPI to an SD40M-2. In our universe, though, the RC still classifies the locomotive as an SD40.

As an aside, the real ex-MPI, exx-UP locomotive had a fascinating history. It was owned by MPI, who sold it to Morrison Knudson, who then sold it to Helm Leasing, where it worked for the Class 1's until the late-2000's. Around 2009, the locomotive was sent to Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, which seems by all accounts to be its final resting place. What an interesting locomotive.