Anmybody know the skinny on a BNSF passenger train with 11 cars, sitting in Sioux Falls, S.D this morning? It looks like an observation car, a couple of bi-levels, and the rest are old passenger cars. Driving by, I could make our Snoqualmie Pass.
Looks like I need to go make some customer calls right about now.[:P]
For those interested: BNSF #4178, # 5243, Rollins Pass, Marias Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, Lake Superior, Mountain View, Santa Fe, Valley View, Fox River ( a bi-level), Powder River ( a bi-level), Bayview (like a dome-liner, except the whole length of the car is raised and glass enclosed), and Red River.
Sounds like an inspection train to me…
The Pass series cars are all sleepers, Lake Superior is a dining car, Mountain View is dome, Santa Fe business car, Valley View is dome, Powder River and Fox River were originally SP commuter Bi-Levels and are now operated like coaches but the interiors look nothing like they were in commuter service.Bay View is a dome inspection car, and Red River is a business car. Couple of high ups riding that train with Santa Fe and Red River in the consist.
Al - in - Stockton
Holy cow ! All that for a couple of higher ups? You’d think with this consist, we could expect James J. Hill to be onboard.[:O]
Just his ghost! Just his Ghost!
Al - in - Stockton
Check out bnsf .com I believe this is the Santa Clause Express…
EDIT : The SCE is in So.Cal…Sorry about the mixup…
'Turns out you were right on the money. It was a special train for military families.[tup] http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812060316
Kind of nice to see Corporations have big hearts too.
Al - in - Stockton
If any of you have Pentrex videos then you should get the video called The Ultimate Tehachapi. It has the BNSF Christmas Train in it. From discribing what you said then this is the Christmas Train. The passenger car setup in the Pentrex video is just like what you said it was setup.
HMMM, Well,It only stands to reason they would do this since they were just voted the best rr to hire military people either active or reserve…God Bless Our Soldiers and Merry Christmas to them and their families !
The train is in Great Falls, Montana for trips that ran today and more will run tomorrow. (Wed 12/10/08) The train came up the Laurel Sub of the BNSF from Laurel to Great Falls early this morning. I couldn’t sleep and happened to see it run through my area at 12:30a.m. One could not miss it even in the middle of the night and I live two miles from the line. The crew had all the lights on in all the cars. That was quite a sight to see the train running on freight only tracks in the middle of the night all lit up. There was no problem figuring out which one was the big dome car.
The Great Falls Tribune (newspaper) is suppose to have an article on the train in Wednesday’s addition.
I am glad that the BNSF is making an effort to keep their image polished!
Follow up on the last post. Matt Rose was with the train in Great Falls, MT