A popular item in the news recently has been the Union Pacific 4141 locomotive, which carried President George H.W. Bush to his final resting place in College Station, Texas. What many people don’t know, is that the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad had the honor of painting the unit that was named after the former president. Although it was all over the news when the locomotive pulled the funeral train, back in 2005 when it was being painted, it was all very hush-hush.
Gerald Tjepkema has been a painter at the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad’s paint shop in Horicon, Wisconsin, since 1999. He said in 2005, when the unit was painted, everything was very secretive. When the unit was completed, it was sent down the tracks covered by tarps to keep the design secret until it reached its destination in College Station.
“It was pretty secretive on that part of it. We had meetings on the side here – it was very top secret,” said Tjepkema.
He said it took a mere two weeks for the six-man team to paint the locomotive, with another week of touch-ups and finishing work. The locomotive was painted in the Air Force One color scheme with George Bush 41 painted on the side. It was painted in honor of the President and the George Bush Presidential Library.
Of all the locomotives that Tjepkema has painted in his career, the 4141 has by far been the most recognized, but others have had a large following as well. In 2002, two locomotives were painted by the Team at the Horicon shop to commemorate the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The locomotives carried the Olympic flame on four separate trips, promoting the spirit of the Winter Games. The train traveled more than 3,200 miles through 11 states. There were ten modes of transportation carrying the flame including a dogsled, horse-drawn sleigh, and a covered wagon.
Tjepkema and his coworkers also painted what are called the Heritage units. Union Pacific had six SD70ACe’s painted to commemorate different rail lines that they acquired throughout the years. The lines include the Missouri Pacific, Missouri-Kansas, Denver and Rio Grande, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Chicago & North Western. They were also sent out covered in tarps until reaching their final destination.
Tjepkema said the heritage-type units were the easiest ones to paint. They were new and came in primed and ready to go. It was the refurbished units like the WSOR business cars that were a little harder to complete.
Mark Krause, car shop leadman, said, “We had to do a lot of work on those on the car repair side and then the paint shop crews completed all the interior and exterior work.”
The painting team also painted several of the WSOR’s red and white locomotives, as well as some for other short line railroads.
“I was working with a good group of guys that we had here, and I enjoyed working with them,” said Tjepkema.