Coastline Wagon Wheel
BNSF local job 360 (I’m guessing L-NWE360-23 to use the official terminology) heads south for Centralia, WA as it follows the coastline of the Puget Sound in Steilacoom, WA. On the point is SD60M 1454, the only EMD 60 series variant on BNSF left in the “Heritage 1” paint scheme.
To my surprise, I saw this engine sitting at the south end of the yard in Centralia earlier in the week & was hoping to at least catch a quick yard move with it running having already known of its uniqueness. As it often goes in this hobby, I had no such luck & gave up having set my priority for the rest of this trip on the puget coastline & the Sumas Turn. Out of pure luck on my final day shooting the Seattle Sub, & with the sun setting while I sit at Saltars Point, I could see a short southbound at Chambers Bay. Figuring it was a local, I get myself set up on the pedestrian bridge to get the coastline in the shot, figuring from the best I could tell from my zoom lense that it was a pair of six axles powering it. To my surprise, it was not a pair of GE’s, but me literally saying out loud “Da Fuck?!” as it rounded the curve here & I could make out the Wagon Wheel logo on the nose.
This was definitely the cherry on top for this productive day & also a nice throwback that still occasionally happens. In this era of Facebook heads up, instant communication thanks to the item I’m holding while I type this & even small/mobile radios & scanners, it’s hard not to know if/when a train with a cooler lash up or consist is nearby or planned. In getting a nice surprise in not knowing what’s about to round the corner & it being something better than you were expecting from time-to-time, it’s a nice refresher to the older & better days when you never knew what would be leading the next train. Sadly, with the rosters of the Class 1’s becoming unbelievably homogenous & boring with them basically only wanting GEVO’s or some kind of C6M variant, those days are sadly becoming a thing of the past. 6-23-23
Coastline Wagon Wheel
BNSF local job 360 (I’m guessing L-NWE360-23 to use the official terminology) heads south for Centralia, WA as it follows the coastline of the Puget Sound in Steilacoom, WA. On the point is SD60M 1454, the only EMD 60 series variant on BNSF left in the “Heritage 1” paint scheme.
To my surprise, I saw this engine sitting at the south end of the yard in Centralia earlier in the week & was hoping to at least catch a quick yard move with it running having already known of its uniqueness. As it often goes in this hobby, I had no such luck & gave up having set my priority for the rest of this trip on the puget coastline & the Sumas Turn. Out of pure luck on my final day shooting the Seattle Sub, & with the sun setting while I sit at Saltars Point, I could see a short southbound at Chambers Bay. Figuring it was a local, I get myself set up on the pedestrian bridge to get the coastline in the shot, figuring from the best I could tell from my zoom lense that it was a pair of six axles powering it. To my surprise, it was not a pair of GE’s, but me literally saying out loud “Da Fuck?!” as it rounded the curve here & I could make out the Wagon Wheel logo on the nose.
This was definitely the cherry on top for this productive day & also a nice throwback that still occasionally happens. In this era of Facebook heads up, instant communication thanks to the item I’m holding while I type this & even small/mobile radios & scanners, it’s hard not to know if/when a train with a cooler lash up or consist is nearby or planned. In getting a nice surprise in not knowing what’s about to round the corner & it being something better than you were expecting from time-to-time, it’s a nice refresher to the older & better days when you never knew what would be leading the next train. Sadly, with the rosters of the Class 1’s becoming unbelievably homogenous & boring with them basically only wanting GEVO’s or some kind of C6M variant, those days are sadly becoming a thing of the past. 6-23-23