COLLEGE STATION, Texas - President George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, will be honored by Union Pacific with a custom-painted locomotive to be unveiled on the campus of Texas A&M University on Tuesday, Oct. 18, during an invitation-only ceremony featuring President Bush and Union Pacific Chairman and CEO Dick Davidson, the railroad said.
Following the unveiling ceremony, President Bush will host a ticketed forum titled "Railroads: Building America," featuring Mr. Davidson at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center next to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The custom-painted SD70ACe will power a special excursion train from College Station to Dallas and back Nov. 19-20. The President Bush unit is expected to be renumbered No. 4141. (UP's current SD70M 4141 will also be renumbered.)
The SD70ACe was one of four units delivered from EMD in primer. The first three became UP Heritage Units painted at Wisconsin & Southern's Horicon, Wis. shops into stylized Western Pacific, Missouri Pacific and Missouri-Kansas-Texas paint schemes. Three more Heritage Units are planned for sometime in 2006
At the same time several other UP ceremonies will also take place. They will be celebrating the dedication of "The Clinton Hump Yard" at 2:00 PM. Later at near by Malfunction Junction a magnificently painted theatraticly lighted EMD70ACe dummy unit will be on display to honor George W. Bush. Also a mile long train of custom painted empty box cars will be rolled by to honor the administration and friends. The box car train will be followed by an old rusty Climax pulling a flat car with a logging donkey and three gondolas. The first gondola will be filled with gift packages for anyone who claims they need one, the second will be filled with New York Times OP ED contributors and the third will be empty as it is reserved for influential constituants.