CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad’s locomotive roster continues to diversify with the unveiling of a Western Maryland-painted GE B32-8, NIWX No. 558. The nearly 33-year-old General Electric four-axle Dash 8 locomotive now sports Western Maryland’s black-and-yellow fireball paint scheme. It arrived at the railroad earlier this year with former Norfolk Southern paint and Northern Illinois & Wisconsin Railway Corp. reporting marks.
That company, a locomotive leasing, finance, and equipment management firm, owns the locomotive and leases it to the Western Maryland Scenic, according to Wesley Heinz, executive director of the tourist railroad. Western Maryland Scenic handled the repaint in-house at its Ridgeley, W.Va., shops.
The fallen flag railroad predominantly rostered EMD and Alco-built locomotives. Its only GE locomotives were a pair of 1940s-built 44-tonners.
Heinz says the locomotive will see regular use on the railroad’s excursion trains to Frostburg and other events in the upcoming weeks.
No. 558 joins a diesel roster that includes No. 450, an ex-Amtrak EMD F40PHR, and No. 501, a Western Maryland-painted former Pennsylvania Railroad EMD GP30.
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