By Railfan & Railroad Staff

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum selected a Semiquincentennial scheme for its SD9 that celebrates the nation’s 250th anniversary while also nodding to the railroad’s own history. 

On June 28, NNRy announced that the public had selected a design by Ryan C. Boettcher for SD9 204, which will be renumbered 250 as part of the repaint. The locomotive will be repainted next spring. 

“Ryan’s design ties together the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, and the heritage of the Nevada Northern Railway by including design accents from Nevada Northern Railway Locomotive 401 [the railroad’s only SD7, which wore a scheme dubbed the ‘Desert Warbonnet’],” the railroad said. 

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.