Come along for a look at the beginnings of one of
America’s two remaining western Class I railroads as the Burlington Northern
and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe combined to form the BNSF Railway.
Our coverage begins with fifteen minutes of footage of
each railroad as it was immediately before the merger. The B.N. is seen in southern Illinois,
Missouri and Nebraska, while the Santa Fe is seen primarily in the Edelstein
and Galesburg areas.
Post-merger footage begins as locomotives from both
railroads begin to mix at random, resulting in Warbonnets on the Centralia to
Paducah local and Cascade Green on the former Santa Fe’s hotshot intermodal
trains. Also, Santa Fe C30-7’s join
their B.N. siblings on coal trains from the Powder River Basin. Rarities include a C30-7 still wearing the
Kodachrome scheme from the aborted SPSF merger and former Amtrak SDP40F’s
rebuilt for freight service on the Santa Fe.
Early repaints are seen, where locomotives retained
their old color schemes with BNSF lettering.
Increasingly, locomotives patched with BNSF markings begin to be
seen. The trend continues as new
locomotives continue to be delivered in the colors of the roads that ordered
them with BNSF lettering.
Finally the BNSF begins to find its own identity;
first with SD70MAC #9647 (the infamous “Vomit Bonnet”), then with the Heritage
I colors based on the old Great Northern scheme, and finally with the Heritage
II scheme combining the G.N. colors with Santa Fe inspired striping and the
Cigar Band logo.
It’s a look back to the first
several years of the BNSF, as the railroad was created and began to find its
own identity.
Copyright 2020
DVD-R Only -- 1 hour and 32 minutes
$17.00 plus shipping
