In January of 1976 The Alaska Railroad unveiled their bicentennial paint scheme on FP7 A units 1510 and 1512. In 1986 I built this model of 1512 as it appeared in 1980 after the large side bicentennial placards had been removed from the sides of the cab. There were no decals available at the time and the best car body was the Athern F7 A. The extra four feet in length was obtained by kit bashing an Athern B unit and then stretching the frame of the A unit between the front truck bolster and fuel tank, then lengthening the drive line with a piece of brass tubing. All the extra details were fabricated to match photos of the time.

I have obtained two Highliner A units and a B unit for use in building state of the art FP models of 1510 and 1514. These three FP units were the last three built by EMD. 1510 will be painted to match the Ken Brovald photos taken on the day of her unveiling in the red white and blue paint job. (This project inspired by the effort lead by Harold Emerick to reproduce the artwork for the placards as part of an upgrade decal set.

Number 1514 will be painted along with another B unit to match the original Blue and Yellow livery for use on the overnight Pullman equipped train operated between Anchorage and Fairbanks from 1955 until 1967. (This project inspired by Branchline Trains announcement they are producing the 6/3 Pullman cars in the ARR paint for the Mt. Susitna and the Mt. Illiamna.) Hopefully they will follow up with the 12/1 Pullman painted as the Mt. Minchumina.