Burlington Northern and Santa Fe

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was wondering if a BN train in the mid to late '70’s ever pulled SF rolling stock prior to the merger in 1980? Mike

2

All railroads handle rolling stock from any other railroad, as required by law, so yes, the BN would have handled Santa Fe rolling stock mixed in with everything else as long as it carried freight that had to pass through the BN system to reach its destination, or was empty and being returned…

3

By the way, the merger was in 1995, not 1980.

4

Thanks for sitting me straight, I was thinking of the merger between BN and Frisco was in 1980 am I right? Mike

5

Yup. The ICC approved the merger on April 17, 1980. “Full merged” operations began on December 1, 1980. This info’s from the 1977-80 BN Annual.

Ed

6

I saw a UP train the other day comprised mostly of brand-new BNSF double-stack well cars. I even saw a separate UP train with a BNSF engine in the m.u. consist at the head end (it was engine #3 in a consist of 4). So I guess just about any combination is plausible. The only thing I might say is if you have a caboose, it’s probably going to have the same roadname as the train pulling it, because they like to use their own cabooses.

7

stokesda wrote

“I saw a UP train the other day comprised mostly of brand-new BNSF double-stack well cars. I even saw a separate UP train with a BNSF engine in the m.u. consist at the head end (it was engine #3 in a consist of 4). So I guess just about any combination is plausible. The only thing I might say is if you have a caboose, it’s probably going to have the same roadname as the train pulling it, because they like to use their own cabooses.”

Isn’t that “cabeese”?! If you could get a pic of a UP/BNSF train with any kind of a caboose, please post it!!

Just in fun, Lou

8

I haven’t seen any cabeese in action in a long time, I was just saying that if you use cabeese on your layout, it should be the same roadname as the train. [:)]