Ghost of the Santa Fe

[kevin_standlee]

On Tuesday, the BNSF through freight came through to drop off and pick up cars at the Fernley House Tracks across the street from our house. It was another "rainbow" consist with ever locomotive in a different paint scheme, including a famous one.



Here are two variations of the BNSF orange-yellow-green, plus a locomotive acquired when the Burlington Northern merged the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe.



This locomotive still wears the famous "warbonnet" scheme that was the iconic paint job on Santa Fe locomotives for many years. Thanks to it appearing on many model train sets given to people for Christmas, it may be the most iconic such scheme.

Of course, the former ATSF locomotive had to yield to its new owner's name replacing "Santa Fe," but at least we have a brief and fading reminder of an earlier time on the railroad.

Comments

[garyomaha]

At least the "SF" in BNSF is better than some fallen flags have gotten out of their deals.

[kevin_standlee]

True. And it's the chances of railroad mergers that means that Burlington, Iowa is remembered in the first letter in one of the largest railroads in the USA, presumably so that neither of the two "Northerns" (Northern Pacific and Great Northern) that merged into Burlington Northern wasn't perceived to be the "winner" of the merger of the NP, GN, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and Spokane, Portland & Seattle.

Contrast this with the Union Pacific: UP + anything else = UP. Although I read recently that when UP merged Southern Pacific, they legally merged UP into SP, then renamed the resultant entity Union Pacific, so technically it was SP that merged UP, not the other way around.

[garyomaha]

Good stories! Perhaps a future episode of "Railroad Legends, Myths, and Stories"?

Around here, the word has been for many years that whatever the Great big rolling railroad* wants, it gets. Definitely one of the largest companies based in Omaha.

(*referencing a commercial jingle for UP which is an earworm around here)