COTTAGE GROVE, Ind. — Seeing a former Southern Railway high short hood EMD GP38-2 in any paint scheme other than the Southern’s black, white and gold “tuxedo” paint scheme or Norfolk Southern’s simple black and white dress is certainly a rare sight. So when the Indiana Eastern Railroad completed the final touches on locomotive No. 5255 and rolled it out of its shop building Nov. 4, 2019, in green and yellow inspired by Illinois Terminal paint schemes, it is worthy of notice.
The locomotive was built in September 1979 for the Southern. It was in the NS “horsehead” scheme and spent some time as a training unit at the NS Training Center in McDonough, Ga., before being purchased by the IERR in October 2017. It replaced a pair of former Alger, Winslow & Western SD9s as the railroad’s primary power, running unaltered and later patched before entering the shop this summer to be repainted.
The GP38-2 returned to service in early October but the final details of the paint scheme weren’t completed until this month, with the locomotive making its first official trip in the new scheme on Nov. 4.
George Andres, CEO and co-owner (with Terry Respondek of Respondek Railroad Corp.) of the IERR and sister operation Ohio South Central Railroad, tells Trains News Wire that the inspiration for the new scheme came from a blend of the “John Deere Green” Illinois Terminal scheme used on its GP20’s, as well as original IT light green with yellow noses, a scheme used on the IT’s GP7’s.
While Respondek is known for his love of the IT, Andres also has his own connections with the railroad, having worked at the Tri-City Port in Granite City, Ill., when that facility was receiving unit trains from the IT in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The railroad was later merged into the Norfolk & Western.
IERR 5255 can normally be found working in and around the IERR’s base of operations in Cottage Grove most weekday mornings. The SD9s are still on the property, with one serving as a backup and the other stored serviceable.
Ugly. IT had a wonderful scheme, but this isn’t even close.
It is indeed great to see a high hood keep its as built configuration in new paint. For what would have been a small interurban, the ITC has quite the following (myself included).
Rock on for the good ole IT! So much love for a long gone former interurban.
Glad to see that this engine kept its high short hood on the front, as I’ve heard that some of these high nose GP38-2’s that NS auctioned off have had there noses shortened and look like normal GP38-2s.