CSX 911 and 1776

Recently CSX has come out with ways to pay tribute to veterans and first responders. Now it won't be long until they come out in their respective scales. So I wanted to give my opinions on the designs of the two.

With locomotive 1776, I feel that it is a lower quality imitation of UP 1943. 1943 has a unique design honoring every military branch, including POWs. However, the camouflage on 1943 is not accurate to its respective branches, but with 1776 the camo is the Army's old digi pattern. This leaves out Marines, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard. The camo on 1776 is probably meant to be all inclusive, but it comes off as lazy compared to the 1943, where every branch has a respective design. UP's signature flag on the side also blends amazingly with the design, while CSX's blue cab and yellow nose is very out of place. CSX made 1776 look like a cheap knockoff to the 1943 to grab good PR. "Spirit of Our Armed Forces" is a clear copy of "Spirit of the Union Pacific," the name of a bomber in WWII as well after support from UP. The "Honoring Our Veterans" copies 1943's "Support Our Troops". In my opinion, 1776 is unoriginal, but 911 is different story.

911 is the "First Responders" locomotive, which looks great to me. The design looks like a fire truck, and the white stripes look on point. It does have copies of 1943 with the "Spirit of Our First Responders" and "Honoring Our First Responders," but the rest of the design is unique. It grabs your attention and holds it much longer than 1776. The emblems of fire fighters, police, and EMTs are nice to see. It is a way to honor the different emergency services. The design of this loco, compared to NS 9-1-1, is much better because of its uniformity. The one thing that I would change is the color of "Spirit of Our First Responders." The gold is a tad difficult to see on the red. When this engine gets released in N scale it will definitely be on my wish list and someday run with 1943.