Photo of the Week

Okay....Okay....I know everyone has seen this emblem, but do you know the story behind it? I was doing my weekend browsing through my old "Panama Canal Reviews" and found this article. This is another important part of our Canal Zone history that has been forgotten.

You know the emblem, but now here is the rest of the story.

After 100 Years...a
Herald for the Railroad

After more than 100 years of service, the Panama Railroad has acquired for the first time its own individual herald or insigne.
The new image, designed by the

Railroad Division, is being stenciled on all locomotives and cars in the Railroad Division.
   At the same time, each piece of Panama Railroad rolling stock is coming in for a general overhaul and brush-up which will include a new coat of paint. The color scheme will follow that now in general use - with boxcars being painted boxcar red; gondolas and tank cars, black; and the locomotives and the locomotives and passenger cars, dark green with a yellow trim band.
   The new herald is in the shape of a shield with the works "Panama Railroad" in the center to symbolize the joining of Panama and the Canal Zone. There are two stars at the top of the shield and 13 strips below.
   The first piece of railroad equipment to receive the new treatment was steel boxcar No. 10024 which was painted with a fresh coat of boxcar red at the car shop in Balboa before the herald was stenciled in white on the right hand side. The word "Panama" was painted in large letters on the left. It replaces the simple "P.R.R." by which the railroad cars have always been identified.

J.C. Stokes, of the Car Shop, points out freshly-stenciled insigne to R.E. Pinkham, Railroad Division Manager (left), and Lt. Gov. John D. McElheny.

"The Panama Canal Review" - May 1, 1959