BNSF should do heritage units. You Know, Great northern BN. What do you think?
They have no reason too, they are not trying to protect copyrights like the UP is.
Bert
The only railroads the BNSF officially aquired was the BN and the Santa Fe. That’s only two locomotives. They would also have to be numbered the same, because the railroads were merged in the same year.
Still, it would be neat if they did some. They should paint an SD70ACe in the Santa Fe warbonnet, and the BN’s green with the stripes on the nose. Or, they could just make a few units wearing the BNSF’s “one-of-a-kind” paint schemes like the barfbonnet or the great pumpkin, or even yellow wedge lettering. When you think about it, the possabilities are endless!
Abso-LUTE-ly!! (Aesthetically speaking, of course!!) Although, by the same logic, SF should have melded into BN, and they should have retained the Cascade green-on-monkey wrench scheme. I would second the sentiments elsewhere expressed that Cascade Green is a d****ed fine color for locos and rolling stock. Will they? Probably not. Here’s a vote for GN (sky-blue and orange/green), NP, SP&S, Frisco, and FW&DC. Oh, and while they’re at it, what will it take for them to trash that new “action” logo?! A three-year-old could have designed that thing!!! Ahhhrrrrrrr!!!
Riprap
How cool would it be if it was Cascade Green with Tiger Stripes! I miss those!
Would also be cool with a SD70ACe with the yellowbonnet scheme too
now that would be awesome
Well, we still see plenty of red/silver and blue/yellow warbonnets at Eola, as well as tons of green BN stuff.
Plus, it would be interesting because I’ve never seen the herald used by the Northern Cross Railroad. Or that of the Central Military Tract Railroad, either.
Now that I think about it, Burlington Northern should haved done heritage units eh?
How about CSX? they could do a series of their founders or I’ve got it! Why doesn’t Genesse & Wyoming give us heritage units, whatdo you say to that!
I’m dying to see one in the old Burlington Red and White.
CSX’s heritage units would be something to see. That will never happen though, they won’t even paint a few bridges much less a locomotive. [;)]
BNSF is trying to fully unite the Railway under one new identity. Once they fully complete the identity change, then the thought of Heritage Units would be reasonable.
The introduction of Heritage Units would have be abstract representations of the various railroads from the past of BNSF if done in the coming year, in order to not make new divisions in the company. We do not want BNSF to become the modern day Penn Central with the Red team fighting the Green team.
Andrew
I like to think in terms of “what if”. For example, what if the BN merger of 1970 never really happened? What might an SD-70 mac look like in either a Great Northern or Northern Pacific paint scheme?? What might the same locomotive look like, wearing a Burlington Route “black bird” scheme??
And while I would love to see the BNSF do up a locomotive for each one of it’s predecessor roads, I don’t think it will ever happen.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
The BNSF isn’t trying to make for bad press the way U.P. is.
I always wondered how a P42 might look with NYC lightening stripes, or PRR pinstripes. Amtrack has locomotives in Mcginnis red, black, and white - Why not?
Speaking of Amtrak and their paint schemes… They really need to lose that “Platinum Mist”, and any other form of red, white, blue that they have used over the past 30+ years! The best Amtrak scheme I ever saw was an E-unit in black with the pointless arrow – sharp! (In spite of being “pointless”… har har) But I think they really need to dress things up a bit, go for some flash, like the passenger trains of old… [2c]
Commercial art today has doesn’t have the same goal as it did in the past. The emphasis today is on graphics or symbols being the statement and the locomotive or whatever else being only an appliance, whatever impressions of power or grace or enginuity is supposed to be obvious to the viewer, and implicite because of whatever it is, is what it is, in this case a locomotive or a train.
This is an extension of a trend of minimalizing and simplifying (more and more abstract) statements going on for how long?
Could it be that the most classic designs - Warbonnets, Lightening stripes, etc. - Were combinations of old and new ideas - emotional and explicite vs. minimal and graphic.
What made old paint schemes so cool was that they were a part of the train, an expression of what the train is supposed to be, and not just a mark identifying ownership, even if that mark happens to be somehow stylized.
Now, what would “do it” for Amtrack?
The U.P. heritage units paint schemes are pretty cool in my opinion, because they “update” the old paint schemes to today’s style, without loseing the flavor of the original.
Amtrack’s modern styling is supposed to give the impression of speed, reliability, but is it devoid of “personality”?
Maybe, Amtrack itself has no personality to reflect in its styling? Amtrack does try to reflect local character in it’s regional trains. Maybe tastefull heritage schemes or a new scheme reflecting railroad history is not a bad idea.
Yes, it would be really great if BNSF would take the lead of U.P. and do some heritage painted units but don’t look for BNSF to admit that U.P ever could do anything right or smart…and as noted before, they really don’t need to protect any rights to logos or paint schemes as U.P. has decided to do (unless they want to of course). I would like to see a Mandarin Orange unit, a NP, a Frisco, etc., etc…oh how I would like to see a Big Sky Blue SD70M on the Racetrack in Aurora!
I’m sure that BNSF (and NS, CSX, KCS, GWI, etc., etc., etc.) also has copyrights and trademarks they wish to protect but Heritage units aren’t the only way to do it. As was mentioned earlier, getting a single image established would be a priority since it helps in reducing a lot of internal corporate warfare. UP is a lot more visible in the public eye than BNSF so Heritage units may have been a way to improve public relations and keep the lawyers at bay at the same time.
I personally tend to view the Heritage units as an indulgence to the railfan community by UP. They add some variety to the landscape but I still come to trackside at Elmhurst to enjoy the railroading even though the locomotives are now Armour Yellow instead of Stagecoach Yellow.
You can take a trip down to Gibson City, IL and see Chinese red on the Bloomer Line. Beautiful paint scheme!
There is an old saw that says," You have to know where you have been to know where you are going."
Union Pacific seems to have a sure grasp of its corporate history, and it historical place in this country. A corporate awareness of place; mirrored in its in house museum and an operable stable of historically significant equipment. As well as a stable corporate identity in its Armor Yellow, certainly identifiable at every crossing where there is a UP train.
Whereas, the culture of the BNSF, is similar to the urban renewal movement of the 1960’s, ‘old is bad, new is good’ philosophy. As most of us are aware, there is a proud history, and its historical place in the creation of the United States; that is the corporate heritage of the newly morphed BNSF. Initials that supposedly stand for nothing. A position like that is hard to focus a corportate culture or a loyal base on. The BNSF seems to lack a compass for the direction it wants to go, an inability to find an identifiable locomotive color combination[ the most publicly, noticable, and identifiable image ] that suites the management team currently in power. It gives the impression that the management cannot make a decision that will last.
Both these companies create a constituancy that is very passionate. There does not seem to be a middle opinion of them; individuals either likes[loves is not too strong a word] them, or hates them. For many reasons, mos