While I have seen a few of the SD70ACE’s on the U.P. I had yet to see one on the BNSF until this afternoon when a brand new and very shiny one came into Eola yard on a CP train westbound. It was not running and the cables were not even connected to the running CP units. Wow, was she ever impressive, huge and very pretty (in a sort of mechanical way). The new BNSF swoosh scheme looks really good on these monsters.
I saw my first BNSF ACEs about a month ago, on our visit to Camp Mookie. I share your opinion of them.
What amazes me is how much new freight equipment BNSF has gotten with the swoosh logo (I’m not talking repaints here). Besides locomotives, I’ve seen coal gons and hoppers, box cars, stack cars, covered hoppers, and Center-beam cars all purchased in the last couple of years.
Still waiting to see my first.
You will have to come to BNSF country. We have a whole showroom full of them! [8D]
i have yet to see one as well. and i’m really praying it wont be one of the new ones with those horrid noselights
I guess I’ll have to plan a trip to BNSFland:) Living in Alberta, I see CP’s trains often,. I would love to see some BNSF’s in real person:)! Meanwhile, I am searching desperately for any pics of their new locos with the swoosh (can anyone help with my search?)
Tjanks,
Roger
Yep, the closest roads to me are CSX and NS. CSX has 20 and NS has 0 so my chances are pretty slim.
We are 17 blocks from the “we are coming and going” south tracks and they were running nose-to-tail last nite. Even Amtrak ran through pretty much on time - heading west. I can tell by the whistles, when they are running the older engines and the new ones. And standing on the porch this morning - heard the bell, too! Houston Ed stayed a couple of blocks closer to the tracks on his visit to Lincoln and I am sure he heard each and every one of them, too, since they ran all night just for him!
Not only are we “fly-over” country we are “run-through” country at night! [:)]
Mook
i saw my first about 2 months ago tied with 2 kcs units on a NS line here in asheville, nc probally the most interesting concist ive seen in a while and i average only 1-2 trains on my line a day
Funny you saw your first SD70ACe at Eola because thats where I also saw my first one, last Friday in fact. It had the nose headlight and looked nice. It was #9345.
Trust me, they sound great!
Ed
railfan1. I have seen 5-20 BNSF SD70ACE heading eastbound and westbound on the Buffalo to Syracuse chicago main line. Some day you will see one.
I have only seen one, 9371. It had headlights rather than the noselights, and I like these units a lot. However, I think the noselights take away all of the uniqueness of the engine. They really look more like Evolutions now. And the color – is that 9339 really that RED? I like the early ones better. Though I’ve only seen one SD70ACe, so maybe I’ll change my mind if I see one of these newer ones in the future. Most likely, the next time I go train watching several of them will shoot through, since I don’t really like them.[:D]
I have done it! Saw my first SD70ACe about an hour ago. UP#8417. Mission accomplised.
Update - on Tuesday I saw my second BNSF SD70ACe! It was pulling a coal train. Behind it was a Santa Fe SD75M and a BNSF SD60M. A pretty good lashup, if you ask me! And this ACe had HEADLIGHTS!!