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| Photo by Cliff West |
After the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Burlington Northern merged in 1995, the new Burlington Northern Santa Fe found itself in search of a paint scheme. Even after the introduction of the Great Northern-inspired "Heritage" orange and green paint scheme for the new Dash-9-44CWs assigned to former Burlington Northern territory, BNSF continued to receive otherwise identical locomotives in a variation of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe's silver & red Super Fleet "Warbonnet" paint scheme, with BNSF initials replacing the billboard "Santa Fe" lettering on the sides. Neither the BNSF nor the earlier Santa Fe "Warbonnets" were particularly common on the former Burlington Northern lines of the Pacific Northwest, but on one spring day in 1999, I think it was in April, they seemed to be out in force on the Portland-Seattle main line.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
My dad and I caught this northbound BNSF unit grain train at the south end of Kalama, Washington, with a pair of "Warbonnets" leading a matched consist of nearly new BNSF mineral red covered hopper cars.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
My dad's pictures from this day came out slightly underexposed, but on the other hand, his camera did have a powerful zoom lens that mine couldn't compete with.
This train was led by Burlington Northern Santa Fe #755, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in August 1997.
The train's second unit was Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #635, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in February 1994.
The train slowed down to go through Kalama, so we were able to get ahead of it and get more pictures of it at the north end of Kalama.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
From this location, the long matching consist of covered hoppers can be appreciated.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
The train appears to have slowed to a crawl and may have even come to a brief stop here.
Just north of this spot, the railroad crosses over the Kalama River. Continuing the chase by car, however, would require returning to Interstate 5, and this spot is between exits, so we made sure to get plenty of pictures here while we could.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
This picture shows that in addition to the BNSF initials on the sides, there are also BNSF initials in the "cigar band" on the nose, where earlier locomotives had "Santa Fe" lettering
My last picture of Burlington Northern Santa Fe #755 was also by far the best.
I also got a better picture of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #635. Though both of these locomotive are the same model, and were built for essentially the same railroad only a few years apart, there are some subtle differences besides the lettering. One of the more noticeable differences is the ditch lights: they are below the platform on ATSF #635 but are above the platform on BNSF #755.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
Next, we continued north to Longview Junction. I don't remember if we hoped to see the grain train again, or if we knew it had gotten away from us. In any case, the next train we saw was a northbound BNSF general freight train.
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| Photo by Cliff West |
Leading a mixed consist of motive power was another "Warbonnet:" Burlington Northern Santa Fe #812, a Dash 8-40CW that was built by General Electric in April 1992 as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #812.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #812 was repainted with BNSF lettering on its sides on August 21, 1996. BNSF #812 still had "Santa Fe" lettering in the "cigar band" on the nose, as the BNSF version of the "cigar band" wasn't introduced until July 1997.
A block of woodchip cars was on an adjacent track, including this former Great Northern woodchip car, still in three-decade old Big Sky Blue paint. Built by Gunderson Brothers in Portland, Oregon, in 1968, this 60'-7" woodchip car was one of 100 numbered 174200-174299 on the Great Northern. On Burlington Northern they were assigned numbers 585500-585599, though many, like this one, were never repainted or even renumbered. 89 of these cars were still on the roster in 1995, and were assigned BNSF numbers 540158-540246, though few, if any, would ever actually wear them. The Great Northern followed this group of cars in 1969 with 125 nearly identical Ortner cars numbered 174300-174424. They were assigned Burlington Northern numbers 585600-585724. 94 of this group were still on roster in 1995 and were assigned BNSF numbers 540247-540340.
Next came a northbound Union Pacific double-stack container train led by Union Pacific #9513, a 4,135-horsepower Dash 8-41CW that was built by General Electric in September 1993.
Finally, another northbound BNSF freight train came along with another pair of "Warbonnets," led by Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #631, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built in February 1994. It is a sister unit to Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #635, which was the trailing unit on the grain train seen in Kalama earlier.
This train's trailing unit was Burlington Northern Santa Fe #754, a 4,400-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in August 1997. It is only one number away from sister unit Burlington Northern Santa Fe #755, which led the grain train in Kalama that started things off, bringing things full circle as the day of railfanning came to a close.
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