Hate to break this to you folks, but railfans and modelers were probably not the key demographic they were out to please when changing the logo. It’s a business and they have an image they want to convey to the millions of others who might see their trains every year. Change is inevitable. It will be interesting to see the discussion here in the years ahead if decide to change their logo again. Probably the same when the current logo/paint scheme was adopted...
BN's logo was just fine for 25 years, with no changes... GN's survived minor changes to 'Rocky' till 1967 when he got 'muscular', but never changed their signature logo that much....
What a great opportunity lost to get rid of that horrible orange color, they stil look like juice cartons on wheels and to think we lost sf and bn's schemes - i wont run these on my layout thats for sure! whoppit
Maybe we'll be lucky and they won't repaint every engine that way. When they announced the Heritage merger, I was worried they'd repaint everything. There are still Blue and Yellows out there.
They should have stuck with the red and silver war bonnet with BNSF markings, like the 700 series when delivered. I never did like this candy corn look, we need Mike Haverty back!
I wholeheartedly agree about the Warbonnet. I do not like the Heritage look. And I still think plain initials don't look right on the side of a locomotive, though. And the fact that the corporation is now called "BNSF" is just uncreative...
I thought the Warbonnet scheme with BNSF on the sides wasn't that great. It sort of hinted at disrepect to ATSF (dare I say sacrilege). I preferred leaving the Santa Fe on the sides and putting BNSF underneath the loco number on the cab (at least the paint matched the sides, and not an out of color patch).
Just think- It took one or more people, with at least four years of "college" education, and uncounted company dollars wasted, to come up with this joke.. Er.... I mean improvement. I'm so glad to be stuck in the '60's. Beautiful imaging. Genuine corporate pride, not facades. Companies run by real railroaders. Not bean counters. These are the same caliber of railroaders that now name their operations after kids, grandkids, or locations far away and unrelated to their operation. Duh. Boxcab E50
Right on Boxcab! These are the morons who are "thinking outside the box" "moving forward" while "proactively" building a "team".
Haven't the marketing types at BNSF heard about a company called BASF? One would think that they would want to avoid any confusion with existing global congloms and further differentiate themselves. BNSF was fine as long as it stood for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, but adopting "BNSF" as the company name just doesn't seem appealing.
That's hilarious, Don. I can just hear the corporate suits "It's time for a paradigm shift!" The new look is way too "corporatey" and not at all "railroady."
OK... tonight I showed my wife the old and the new logos. She said she liked the new one, the other looked "too old fashioned". AAARRGGGHHH... my wife, I love her with all my heart, needs some lessons in good railroad taste, she needs to know the rich heritage of CBQ, GN, ATSF, Frisco, et al, she may be the CFO of my railroad, but I think I may have to demote her to scenery painting (wait, she expressed an interest in doing that...)
Just got off the phone. Was speaking with a friend, who is a retired GN/BN/BNSF man. He's been hearing from many former co-workers tonight. Every single one of them says it stinks. Boxcab E50
This logo is pretty bland. Too bad, I thought that the H1 or H2 schemes were pretty classy. One thing though, I don't see this logo lasting all that long on the current H2 scheme. It just doesn't fit well so I wouldn't be surprised if the paint scheme is changed as well to a more single color scheme - Giant Pumpkins or shades of SP's Halloween scheme? Peter
its the great pumpkin charlie brown!!!!! sorry, couldn't help myself, i'll go sit down now... must be time for my medication
I have always thought and still do that the BNSF scheme was sharp looking..I like this"new image"..Its pleasing to the eye and really sets off the BNSF scheme. Guys,Some of the fallen flag schemes of several railroads was terrible..One that comes readily to mind is the ICG scheme and there was others just as bad.