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Delaware tourist carrier Wilmington & Western Railroad rolled out its Semiquincentennial locomotive – SW-1 1776 – on July 4, for one of the largest fireworks displays in the region. It’s perhaps the oldest diesel to wear an “America 250” livery.

Built by EMC in 1940 as Lehigh Valley Railroad 114, it served the Maryland Port Authority and short-lived tourist operator Ocean City Western Railroad before coming to the W&W (also as number 114) in the 1980s. It works alongside former Baltimore & Ohio SW-1 8408.

Locomotive 1776 debuted on the annual and popular “Fireworks Express” to Hockessin, Del. on the evening of July 4. It ran in regular service out of Greenbank, Del. on July 5, but a mechanical issue sidelined it late in the day.

The W&W was established in 1966 to operate excursions on 10 miles of former Baltimore & Ohio trackage between Greenbank and Hockessin, Del.

—Michael T. Burkhart

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