So Purdy

[Ericmopar]

I miss these. I stumbled across this pic by accident.
BNSF really needs to do some heritage units.
Good lord... I just realized what the engine number is...

[BoostedFridge]

I see war bonnets regularly up here, but they are all so worn and weathered that it's easy to forget how impressive they looked new. It's been almost 25 years since the scheme was brought back :/

[JerryC]

Yeah, this is what they all look like now. It looks like this one went to where the one in the first picture came from...

DSC_3209.JPG

Taken by me at Dalton, GA, October 2011

[JerryC]

I won't discuss the heritage unit thing. But I will say this, the railfan community has been very fortunate with the BNSF's kind will and lack of care to spend money repainting units. Unlike every single other railroad merger that has happened within the last 30 ish years, BNSF is the only one to have lasted as long as it has with units running around consistently in predecessor paint. UP, NS, and CSX were all quick to erase any true heritage. You wouldn't see any of those other guys doing something like this, now would you?

I would attribute that to BNSF's larger size. They and UP lack on only a few hundred miles being true trans-con railroads. That's a lot of territory to cover and a lot of locomotives to repaint. NS and CSX really aren't much larger than regional railroads. Most of their junk has been turned into scrap, so new units being repainted into their "modern" liveries as they come off the assembly line helped to contribute to the quick makeover. There was a time though, from 82 throughout the 90's, when it was still very common to see Chessie, Seaboard, and even Family Lines units all over CSX. NS pretty much moved to erase all traces of Southern and NW as soon as it took over.

EDIT: Ok, something weird just happened here! What happened to the post I quoted?

[ErikGorbiHamilton]

I miss these. I stumbled across this pic by accident.
BNSF really needs to do some heritage units.

Maybe this year, With the 20th anniversary of BNSF coming up on September 22nd. There have been so many requests to BNSF for heritage units. If i recall i think someone on here suggested to the Burlington Northern about heritage units back in the day. I cant remember who though.


E: It's hard to believe that Burlington Northern and the ATSF have been gone for 20 years now. time flies don't it?

[JerryC]

Maybe this year, With the 20th anniversary of BNSF coming up on September 22nd. There have been so many requests to BNSF for heritage units. If i recall i think someone on here suggested to the Burlington Northern about heritage units back in the day. I cant remember who though.

Unlikely. When I approached the Company about doing the GATX Blue BNSF as a skin for the GP40-2, the licensing rep about swallowed their computer screen! I had to send them prototype photos to show them that it was an actual locomotive. Needless to say, they were not happy that I wanted to change the BNSF trademark and were not sure why GATX was allowed to do that.

[GSkid]

Well that was a brand new Santa Fe #666 from 1994. Here's the same loco 17 years later.... now as BNSF #599...

[Ericmopar]

Yeah, this is what they all look like now. It looks like this one went to where the one in the first picture came from...

DSC_3209.JPG

Taken by me at Dalton, GA, October 2011

I'm must be getting older. I just got that...