Remembering 911 with CSX Pride in Service Locomotives

 Greetings All,

In July 2021 I added Scale Trains CSX #911 and CSX #1776 "Pride in Service" locomotives to my motive power fleet and think today is the perfect day to unveil them.

Today, September 11, 2021, is the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which culminated with brave passengers downing a hijacked plane in Shanksville, PA before it could strike another target.

In 2019 CSX painted three locomotives to honor our brave first responders, our law enforcement and our veterans. 

CSX# 911 is painted and lettered to resemble a fire truck or ambulance with "Honoring Our 1st Responders" in bold letters on the radiator flares. The unit honors the first responders from the 9/11/2001 attacks on New York City, Washington DC and Somerset County PA. The unit was built by General Electric in 2008 and retained it's original number when being selected for the "Pride In Service" program.

The 1776 celebrates the five main branches of the United States Armed Forces. It has a traditional CSX nose paint with "Spirit of our Armed Forces" in script. Digital camo adorns the rest of the engine with "Honoring Our Veterans" in bold writing on the radiator flares.

The two new units join Pride in Service CSX ES44 #3194 that is painted to resemble a police car with Spirit of our Law Enforcement in script on the nose and bold "Honoring Our Law Enforcement" on the radiator flares.

Here are the three Prides of the NYCTL Fleet hauling a train thru Empire City and Bedford.

The engines have cut from the train and are at the engine terminal.

All three engines fit at the fuel rack. That's engine hostler Wet Willie Jr who they say is a drip off the old block.😉

The three Pride In Service units really look good in the engine terminal.  

I ran the three engines together on a long freight train with the 911 leading.

 

The 3194 was the middle Distributed Power Unit.

The 1776 was the rear Distributed Power Unit.

 

Checkout the D.P.U. units powering a long PSR style freight train.

 

The Pride in Service units are separated and ready to get away from the Precision Scheduled Railroading that has become all the rage with the prototype CSX and other class 1s. 

Single ES44s power freight trains thru Bedford NY

 

  

The 911 locomotive takes center stage today as the NYCTL honors the nearly three thousand people killed on this date at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan that included 343 Firefighters, 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department, 23 members of the New York Police Department and many EMTs, paramedics, court officers and federal employees.

Unfortunately the butcher's bill from these deadly attacks continues to climb as the asbestos laden air and other toxin levels have stricken many of the first responders who worked what was called Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood and the Staten Island Landfill where the Ground Zero debris was brought to be searched for bodies and body parts.

While I feel this twentieth anniversary is nothing to celebrate but should be considered a day of remembrance I am very happy to have these locomotives in my fleet as each engine represents a specific member of my family.

For more on the prototype engines checkout the 

CSX Commemorative Locomotives Page

Thanks for reading and watching.

See ya tomorrow.