Why BNSF? That's an interesting question. What makes us all be BNSF Fans? For me, well, I've always been an ATSF fan and I like the BN too so the merger just made everything better for me. Living in Atlanta and being an ATSF fan was tough. There was just no where close to go see the Santa Fe. The merger brought a lot of Santa Fe power to the far east end of the former BN. Birmingham Alabama is only a couple of hours away and a great place to railfan. On one trip over, I pulled in to the BNSF parking lot and there sat two new BNSF Dash 9's under the shed. (The first units I ever saw in BNSF paint) I was very excited to see them even though they were parked where I could only get a nose shot. It was a nice sunny day so I started to shoot some of the other power sitting around. When I headed back to the car, a BNSF employee (and as I found out, fellow railfan) came over to ask what I was up too. We started talking and he started asking if I had seen anything good at some of the other spots in Birmingham. When we finished chatting and he was about to walk off, I mentioned to him that it was a shame the two Dash 9's were parked under the shed. He smiled and said, we can fix that and walked off. I didn't see him again but someone else came out of the shop building and pulled the engines out of the shed. The guy got off the engines, waved, and walked back into the building. I shot a whole roll of film. What a day and what a way to be treated. That hooked me for good on BNSF. So, what about everyone else?
Richard, after that kind act, no wonder you are a BNSF fan Like you, I have always liked the ATSF, and to a lesser degree, the BN. When we last came over to southern California, the new C44's in BNSF paint were appearing, but there were still more in Santa Fe red and silver warbonnet - what a superb paint scheme that is! Several of the blue and yellow units had BNSF patches, but they still looked the same. It is a shame both these schemes will dissappear
Well, mostly because it's here. I didn't get interested in trains until after the BNSF merger, but before repainted units becoame common. When I was first starting to railfan all I saw was green BN Geeps by the hundreds. At the time an SD40-2 was a rare treat indeed! I saw my first Pumpkin (A pair of C44-9Ws) at Pasco on a business trip and was pleanty excited. When the first Pumpkins started coming to Bellingham I really liked the GN colors and I still do. The wonderful thing about the BNSF for me is the variety that can still be found on it. From C44-9s and AC44s to GP and SD9 to C-C slugs if you know where to look.
I have to agree, The Santa Fe has always been my road of choice wuth the BN a close second. The BNSF has been around on my model railroad longer than the actual merger.
As all you guys know all to well, its a husband (SF) and wife (BN) thing. It's cool to see my wifes stuff slowly get painted or patched. It is also one of the better paint schemes out there. The old IC runs near our house, but the black and death star logo is borring. Besides the BNSF has the most diverse motive power. What other class 1 road still runs GP9's, 20's, and 30's to name a few?
I loved the BN when it was around. I am just rolling with the changes. Been nice to see the ATSF warbonnets in BN green since the merger was originaly the BN buying the ATSF but then greinstein retired and that put an ATSF guy in. Of course the only down side of my arguement would be we would not have seen the schemes we have today for the BNSF. The H2 has to be my favorite scheme [ 04. August 2002, 17:32: Message edited by: Jack Doran ]
