Went fanning yesterday with my friend who works for BNSF and found the trimmer at the north end of the yard and caught a rare loco indeed! BN SD40-2 #6908, the unit has been at the yard for a long time but i was so happy to know the BN is still kicking somewhere! I just hope they dont patch it for a while!
How I miss that Cascade Green!
I checked a little over a week ago, the BNs that still stand: 1517,1524,2356,6908,9524,9556,9619.
Come on up to the Twin Cities sometime (but with the rising violence I suggest you move quickly). There’s plenty of BN “Cascade Green” locomotives around here still. The locals operating on the Osseo line and the Hinckley Sub often feature BN-livery units and cabeese. There’s also quite a selection to be seen in the Willmar Yard about 1.5 hrs. west of here. Check-out the stored power in Northtown Yard over by 35th St. - you’ll see LOTS of Cascade Green there.
Yes, but are they unpatched “Burlington Northern”? Cascade Green motors are everywhere, even here on the FEC on lease from HLCX.
I grabbed lunch near the north lead at Corwith (CHI) a few weeks back and watched a trio of BN SD-40-2’s, all still in green. I don’t recall if they were patched, but even that wouldn’t have taken too much away from fond memories of seeing sets of 5 of those on the coal line, not just so long ago.
Never was much a BN fan but thats not important. I will give the green side a good plug here though and take note as this may be the only good comment I can give them. This was just for one day, but we had a former BN SD60M as lead eng on our local recently and for someone who rarely gets to ride in units like that, I was impressed. Lots of room in the cab. All three of us were able to place our grips on the floor and not have to worry about lack of floor space. Yes, this was better than some ATSF wides.
There are some still unpatched BN units up here (especially in the stored line I mentioned), but most have the “BNSF” patch under the cab window, and some are patched like that but with the BN logo still on the nose. I was pleased to see an unpatched BN SD40-2 not too long ago on the lead southbound through Isanti.
Lots and lots of unpatched BN as well as ATSF power comes through here. I see a couple of trains a day powered by BN, or ATSF SD-40’s both patched and unpatched. I can ignore the BNSF under the cab window, however. The local that runs through here, has at least one unpatched unit on it I believe. I think it’s a BN GP20… Seeing the SD60M “white face” units is always a treat, they are seen around here quite a bit.
That’s the good thing about BNSF, they don’t put big obnoxious patches on their engines, they actually match the patches with tha paint scheme unlike UP’s big yellow things. I’m surprized that BN SD40-2 wasn’t patched yet, it appears BNSF moved the headlights down to the nose but didn’t patch it. Maybe there is someone at the shop who likes BN!
Just to be clear, if there’s ‘BNSF’ anywhere in the unit, it’s a PATCHED unit. If there’s no ‘BNSF’ anywhere, it’s UNPATCHED (and from joegreen’s previous posts, there are only 7 UNPATCHED BN units left).
The last unpatched unit I caught was in Jan '07, BN 2132, which is no longer one of the survivors:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=170367
Note the SD40-2s…they have the BNSF patch on the cab, but the 2132 does not.
Is that paint color really that rare, because I see that at least one loco with that color in the lincoln yard in Nebraska every time I go by the yard.
The color isnt whats rare its the fact it still says Burlington Northern with the BN logo on the cab instead of the BNSF letters on pretty much all old BN locomotives.Now look at this pic compared to the one i posted, this is the difference between a true BN and a patched BN locomotive.
oh, I will start paying attention more now I know I have seen some with the BN logo on the front with no BNSF on the side.
Matt and I like bnsf units that come by here on csx.Eventhough the 746 warbonnet was"patched" it still was great to see.
stay safe
joe
Aside from the 7 remaining BN units, here’s one place where the Burlington Northern is still kicking:
http://paulhamus.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1047441
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