Amtrak Veterans Locomotive at Beech Grove, 2013.

To honor all those who have served in the armed forces, Amtrak painted P-42 locomotive No. 42 red, white and blue. It also includes a specially designed “America’s Railroad Salutes Our Veterans” logo and 50 stars around the bottom. The locomotive was painted as part of a regularly scheduled upgrade at the Amtrak Beech Grove, Ind., maintenance facility and is used to pull trains in revenue service on routes throughout the country. The Veterans Locomotive is often paired with the Amtrak Exhibit Train for scheduled events.

The Veterans Locomotive was unveiled on June 26, 2013 during a ceremony held at Washington Union Station to announce an Amtrak goal of hiring veterans as 25 percent of all new employees by 2015. Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman was joined at the event by Senator Joe Manchin (W. Va.), Congressman Jeff Denham (Calif.) and Michael L. Rhodes with the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “The leadership, reliability and high-tech skills veterans bring to the job are a great resource to the operation of America’s Railroad,” said Boardman, a Vietnam veteran.

Photographer: Chuck Gomez for Amtrak. From the Amtrak Corporate Collection.