A westbound Z-train roars through West Chana, Ill., on the BNSF Aurora Sub. Photo by Nathan Beecher […]
Hear that lion roar
Railroad: BNSF
Pounding the diamonds
A westbound BNSF Z-train, hauling new J.B. Hunt Intermodal containers, pounds the diamonds at Rochelle, Illinois. Photo by Nathan Beecher […]
Snow fog
Intermodal trains pass at Winton, Wash., a short ride east of the Cascade Tunnel at Stevens Pass. ES44C4 No. 6896 is leading Seattle-Chicago train Z-SSECHC6-19A, while the distributed power unit of Tacoma, Wash.-bound train S-STPTAC3-16A disappears into a fog of snow. Photo by David Honan […]
Live at Red Rocks
A trio of General Electric-built GEVO locomotives powers an intermodal rain past North Guam, N.M., on April 11, 2011. The first two diesels belong to the class ES44C4, an A1A-A1A-trucked A.C. traction model built to perform to six-motor D.C. designs. Photo by Steven M. Welch […]
Waterlogged and logging miles
The spring flood waters have started to subside on the Mississippi River (as evidenced by the watermarks on the trees) at Gears Ferry Landing near Galena, Ill., as an eastbound BNSF “Z” train heads east toward Chicago on a cloudy and cool April 23, 2011. Photo by Steve Bauer […]
BNSF’s Network Operations Center
Q How does BNSF’s Network Operations Center in Fort Worth, Texas, control BNSF trains when they share tracks with another railroad, such as the route over the Tehachapi Pass? Union Pacific owns the trackage and allows BNSF trackage rights. On average, BNSF sends three trains over the pass to UP’s one. Does the BNSF Operations […]
Riding high in the Bay Area
A trio of BNSF power has doublestacks and autoracks in tow at Martinez, Calif., on Nov. 29, 2004. Tom Murray photo […]
Headed through the Columbia River Gorge
BNSF Railway ES44DC 7248 leads a westbound intermodal train through the Columbia River Gorge past Skamania, Wash., in the fall of 2009. The lead locomotive was delivered earlier in the year. Ron Burkhard photo […]
BNSF diesels pass through Chillicothe, Iowa
Three BNSF Railway diesels pull train CATMCXEO-88 past Chillicothe, Iowa, on a snowless Dec. 4, 2006. The train is crossing BNSF’s busy ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy route across southern Iowa, a key coal route for BNSF. Photo by Craig Williams […]
BNSF Railway’s predecessors
What have the mergers that built today’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe system accomplished? It’s important to ask this question, because it predicts where BNSF might be headed in the future. In basic terms, mergers have four outcomes. Strategic mergers create seamless service in new or existing traffic lanes and open new markets. Tactical mergers reduce […]
The black fog of Blossburg, Montana
A westbound loaded BNSF Railway coal train exits Montana Rail Link’s 3,986-foot-long Mullan Tunnel on Sept. 16, 2006. Tom Danneman As detailed in the February 2010 issue of TRAINS, ventilating exhaust from Mullan Pass tunnel has been a challenge since its completion in 1883. This sequence of photos, taken by TRAINS Art Director Tom Danneman, […]
BNSF 4617 East at summit of East Ash Hill
Though half of its train continues to ascend a 1.0 percent grade, BNSF 4617 East has crested the summit at East Ash Hill, about seven miles east of Ludlow, Calif., on the morning of Oct. 8, 2009. Within a few thousand feet, all 50 autoracks of BNSF Train V-SDGCLO1-07 (Vehicles, San Diego, Calif. — Clovis, […]
