BNSF Begins, Santa Fe and Burlington Northern at merger time

Our coverage of this merger begins with footage of each railroad as it was immediately before the merger. The BN is seen in southern Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska, while the Santa Fe is seen primarily in the Edelstein and Galesburg areas.

Post-merger footage begins as locomotives from both railroads begin to mix at random, resulting in Warbonnets on the Centralia to Paducah local and Cascade Green on the former Santa Fe’s hotshot intermodal trains. Also, Santa Fe C30-7’s join their BN siblings on coal trains from the Powder River Basin. Rarities include a C30-7 still wearing the Kodachrome scheme from the aborted SPSF merger and former Amtrak SDP40F’s rebuilt for freight service on the Santa Fe.

Early repaints are seen, where locomotives retained their old color schemes with BNSF lettering. Increasingly, locomotives patched with BNSF markings begin to be seen. The trend continues as new locomotives continue to be delivered in the colors of the roads that ordered them with BNSF lettering.

Finally the BNSF begins to find its own identity; first with SD70MAC #9647 (the infamous “Vomit Bonnet”), then with the Heritage I colors based on the old Great Northern scheme, and finally with the Heritage II scheme combining the GN colors with Santa Fe inspired striping and the Cigar Band logo.