I don't know where to post this as I'm focusing on the former BN units still in service, rather then anything else accompanying them. I caught 3 seperate SD60M's on the Racetrack in Hindsdale, IL today all 3 still in cascade green paint with the BN White Face and still wearing their BN Heralds and not a BNSF mark on them anywhere. It's so amazing to see they've escape that nasty heritage orange. 2 out of the 3 were lead units on the inbound loaded coal drags.
And BN became part of BNSF in the mid 1990's? These are doing remarkably well to keep that livery for so long! Regards, Pete Davies
I was up there on the racetrack a few weeks ago and saw 2 or 3 also that were in very good shape. Love it!
Maybe that is because the SD 60s were mothballed for a couple years. I think it was due to fuel economy but I may be wrong. There was about 6-8 of them sitting on the dead track at Interbay a couple years ago. And I NEVER took a picture.
I just did some research, still unsure as to why they were out of service, but they were returned to service about a year ago.
Most of the ones I see have a small BNSF under the BN logo, and have been renumbered from the 9200 series to the 8100 series.
These didn't have the BNSF under the logo and still had their 9200 series numbers. I really hope they won't get any BNSF Numberings/markings. I like them just the way they are
They will be getting renumbered soon, the SD70ACe units are getting in the 9200 series, so they will have to renumber the SD60Ms to fit the group
Yeah, Thanks for bursting my bubble I figured they would. For now I'll enjoy some pure, untainted SD60M's.
I saw 2 white faced SD60's come thru Montana a few weeks ago, also on a coal train, with a SD70 in Heritage paint on point. It seems a lot of "mothballed" locos are showing up the last few months....there are also a pair of BN SD40's working out of the Laurel yard. And after a long time of not seeing one, suddenly the MRL SD40's have made a reapperance. Is rail traffic up to a point the railroads need the extra power?
Not to doubt you but are you sure they were still in there 9200 series. Every SD60M i have seen at work has been renumbered to the 8100 series. The SD70ACe's have been in the 9200 seies for a couple years now. I would say half of the SD60M's I see still have the BN logo with small BNSF letters under them. Kevin
The ones I did still had the 9200 series numbers and no BNSF Markings. I'm going to go back in a couple days and watch for those three units. I think by now they should be changed.
Okay I caught one of the above mentioned girls again. This time they had their numbers back in the 8100 series and a stenciled BNSF logo. It looked to be the standard lettering, no speed lettering. I can only assume the last 2 girls are being switched over. How did I know this was the same unit? The front White Hand Rail on the front on the engineers side was bare metal, the white paint was missing when she came through and it was still missing this time. I am assuming it was a a repair that wasn't painted. Either way, same unit, new numbers/markings. I did not catch the last 2 numbers. I was looking specifically for "81" or "92" at the start.
It seems as if these are going back into storage. I have had several of them lately in my train Dead in Consist. I do not know if they are going into storage after failures or just because they suck. I say suck because as a railroader they are beat up, rough riding; the cabs are trashed and break easy. I wish BNSF would give them a good rebuilding like the UP or NS is doing. KEvin
One can only hope. I'd hate to see these girls go away forever. They wear their colors with pride no matter whose name is on it.
