By Justin Franz

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is asking the public to help design a new paint scheme to apply to the railroad’s SD9 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. As part of the repaint, locomotive 204 (ex-Southern Pacific 3942/4426), will also be renumbered 250. 

To encourage the public to submit designs, the railroad is hosting a contest. The winner will not only have their design selected to be applied to the EMD locomotive, but they’ll also win $1,000 and get to operate the locomotive on a 14-mile round trip. Contest rules require that the winning paint scheme feature the colors red, white and blue. Nevada Northern Railway must also be spelled out on the locomotive.

While the Semiquincentennial is still two years away, some railroads are already preparing. In 2023, the Pennsylvania & Southern Railway painted an SW1200 in what is believed to be the first paint scheme to mark the anniversary. During the Bicentennial in 1976, dozens of railroads painted red, white and blue locomotives. 

While NNRy is known for its fleet of steam locomotives, it also has a notable fleet of diesels as well, including three different Alco road switcher models and a Baldwin VO-1000. SD9 204 once worked for the SP and was later purchased by BHP Nevada Railroad, which operated the NNRy in the late 1990s during a brief freight revival on the copper-hauling short line. BHP rostered five SD9s, numbered 201 through 205, plus two 70-tonners and an RS-3. Locomotive 204, which was one of two painted into BHP Nevada’s blue and yellow scheme, later became part of the NNRy Museum collection. 

For more information about the contest, visit NNRy’s website. Submissions are due on April 30.