While reading the article on BNSF upgrades in Locomotive Briefs on page 21 of the May issue there seems to be a mismatch between the photo and the body of the article. It states BNSF is updating 45 of the 51 remaining SD75Ms and the photo shows BNSF 283. Unless I have my facts wrong BNSF 283 is actually a SD75I. Question is then, does this upgrade include both the SD75M and SD75I models? Rather curious since Progress Rail Tacoma has the first 4 of the remaining SD75ms on site and am rather curious as to what they are going to do with them.
BNSF doesn’t differentiate between the SD75Ms and SD75Is; as far as it’s concerned, they’re all “SD75M”. Initially, the BNSF 8276-8301 series units were designated “SD75I”; however, BNSF moved to simplify the model designations of units with isolated cabs, and these units were re-designated “SD75M.”