A heritage unit or commemorative locomotive is a railroad locomotive painted in an honorary paint scheme; usually the paint scheme is that of a now-defunct railroad that merged with or was acquired by the locomotive's owner.
Among North American railroads
Heritage units are popular among North American railroads. As of 2023, all major Class I railroads have official heritage units, except for BNSF Railway.[a][1][2]
The Union Pacific Railroad painted six EMD SD70ACes in stylized paint schemes of six of its predecessors between 2005 and 2006.[3] The Norfolk Southern Railway did the same in 2012 with 20 of its locomotives for its 30th Railroad Anniversary.[4] 10 of them are EMD SD70ACes, while the others are GE ES44AC units. For its 40th anniversary in 2011, Amtrak painted four GE P42DCs, a P40DC, and an EMD F40PH converted to an NPCU into its older paint schemes. Several more were painted for its 50th anniversary in 2021.[5]
ES 499.0001, actual running number 350 001-4, of the Slovakian Railways (ZSSK) in its factory paint scheme. Railway companies in Europe have also taken up this practice.CC 201 83 31 of the Kereta Api Indonesia (formerly CC 201 69), the first of the national railway's main line locomotive to use honorary paint scheme, sporting the railway's 1953-1991 paint scheme since 2021.[9]NS 1074 is an EMD SD70ACe owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway, painted in the Lackawanna scheme, one of the 20 railroads acquired by it.
Below is a list of heritage units in active service by various railroads.
^Although BNSF released several commemorative celebrating their 25th Anniversary, which featured logos of predecessor railroads, these are not considered as heritage units. BNSF also has several units in older “Warbonnet", “Bluebonnet”, "Cascade Green", and "Grinstein" paint schemes, but these are generally also not considered heritage units.
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