In this instalment of my Vintage Rail Series, we take a look at the BNSF in August and September 1998. All that you see is from one tape and is mostly shot in Chillicothe IL with a brief visit to Princeton on the Mendota Sub. I shot a lot at night back then as it was the only time I could get a ride to the tracks and I was still to young for my driver's license. Unfortunately, most of the night footage is too dark to transfer and a lot of amazing trains and locomotive consists can't be shared.
We start with a night shot that had to be shared. A westbound stack train passes the Chillicothe depot lead by a Santa Fe Dash 9, an MKM F45, and a BNSF 700 series Dash 9. The F45 had been sold to Morrison Knudson and leased back during the traffic boom of the late '90s. A couple days later we return to Chillicothe on a sunny afternoon. A westbound hotshot comes by with SD75M 8260, Dash 9 1067, and GP60B 327. Next is an eastbound, most likely the M-MODSXR with all the boxcars, bound for the ConRail connection at Streator. Big Blue is well represented with SD50 6820, SD40-2 6487, and C40-8W 6056. A trio of GEs, 4789, 1039, and 660, pulls a westbound Z train soon after. After the sum set, another westbound Z train passes powered by a BNSF SD75M, ATSF SD40-2, and an ATSF C40-8W.
We have just enough light left to enjoy an all BN powered eastbound manifest lead by SD40-2 8152, GP40M 3512, and GP39M 2407. After dark, another eastbound manifest passes with a great consist. An ATSF B40-8 leads an ATSF GP60M, an ATSF B40-8W, Illinois Central SD40-2 6117, and BNSF GP50 3202.
Next, we take a quick trip to Princeton on the Mendota Sub. A westbound auto train glides around the sweeping curve with an ATSF B40-8W and another ex ATSF MKM F45. Amtrak 6 makes its station stop behind P42s 87 and 65 followed by B32-8 512. Superliner George M Pullman osnij the train today. This was the last passenger car built by the legendary Pullman Company in Chicago in the early 1980's. Little did I know I would take this very sleeper to California in 2002. Our last train on this cloudy day is a westbound manifest with two LMX B39-8Es, 8572 and 8580.
Returning to Chillicothe for another night shot, a westbound is seen with a nice surprise. C40-8W 814 leads FP45 97, the last FP45 on the roster, and an ATSF SD40-2. The 97 would run until summer of '99 before being retired after suffering a cracked engine block. Next we get a look at a late night crew change. The crew of westbound M-MCIKCK, later changed to the M-IHBGAL, spent a long time getting out of Chicago and are about to expire on their hours of service. BN SD40-2 6731 and LRCX SF30C 9564 soon pull west and pass an eastbound Z train with a pair of Dash 9s. On another evening we see a stopped eastbound low priority pig train being passes by a Z powered by an ATSF SD75M, two BN SD40-2s, an ATSF GP60M and an ATSF GP60B. A couple hours later an eastbound UP stack train grinds past with a UP SD40-2, an SP SD40T-2, and a UP GP38-2.
The last segment is also at the Chilli depot. A westbound showed up as soon as we did and I hopped out to see it lead by Santa Fe's first SD40-2 5020, BN GP40M 3505, and BN B30-7AB 4099. Another M-MCIKCK came by soon after with the most amazing post merger locomotive consist I ever shot. I missed the opportunity to shoot it at the depot so we got ahead of it at MP132 for a quick handheld shot. The rainbow consist is ATSF GP60M 110, ex ATSF MKMX SD45 5369, BNSF Dash 9 984, ATSF GP35 2819, BNSF GP60 8718, BNSF GP40X 3035, ATSF GP60M 120, patched ex ATSF SD40-2 6798, patched ex ATSF SDF40-2 6968, ATSF C41-8W 924, and ATSF B40-8W 575. In Edelstein, we get a blurry look at am eastbound with a Dash 9, an SD75M and an SD75I. Finally, an eastbound manifest bound for ConRail in Streator passes the depot with three ConRail SD50s and a Ballast Express painted C32-8. The railroad only painted ten locomotives like this and I eventually saw two including this one.