BNSF 1444 Monument 5 Sep 16
BNSF 1444 leads the Pikes Peak Local through the s-curve just south of Monument, CO.
This is my last shot of this train as it inexplicably stopped somewhere between right here and the north siding switch at Academy. I waited around for it for some time at Academy, but it never came.
I did want to take a second to talk about the patch jobs BNSF has done whenever they have to change a road number and how the care and detail has gotten worse as time goes by. The SD60Ms are a perfect case study.
This particular unit was built in January of 1991 as BN 9267. Here's what it looked like as a BN unit:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2421294
At some point in the early 2000s, it became BNSF 9267, a simple switch from a BN road number to a BNSF one. Here's what it looked like after this patch:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1076482
You'll notice the BN herlad remained under the cab with the only difference being they replaced the 'BURLINGTON NORTHERN' text with the appropriately stylized and font'd 'BNSF'. In addition, they used a matching green color to block out or cover over where the 'BURLINGTON NORTHERN' text had been.
Then in later 2007/early 2008, the SD60Ms were assinged to the 8100-series to make room for the new SD70ACes. This unit naturally became BNSF 8167 which you can see here:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1411643
The patch job in this case was to change the '92' on the longhood to '81'. Simple enough, right? They used a background green color that was pretty close to the original paint, but the '81' appears to be of a different font. Or maybe it's just the bold version of the font they were using on all their other units. Regardless, they're back to the original number font when they renumbered this unit to BNSF 1444.
And now on to the latest iteration. The BN herald under the cab is gone and it appears they attempted to color match the green background of the '1444' patch there. But then you look at the patch on the longhood and it's darker green for some odd reason. Clearly they had a similar green when they moved the road number to the cab...did they run out of that color for the longhood? I have no idea, but the attention to detail has gone down with each subsequent patch job on these units. At least those nerds left the BN nose herald untouched!
BNSF 1444 Monument 5 Sep 16
BNSF 1444 leads the Pikes Peak Local through the s-curve just south of Monument, CO.
This is my last shot of this train as it inexplicably stopped somewhere between right here and the north siding switch at Academy. I waited around for it for some time at Academy, but it never came.
I did want to take a second to talk about the patch jobs BNSF has done whenever they have to change a road number and how the care and detail has gotten worse as time goes by. The SD60Ms are a perfect case study.
This particular unit was built in January of 1991 as BN 9267. Here's what it looked like as a BN unit:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2421294
At some point in the early 2000s, it became BNSF 9267, a simple switch from a BN road number to a BNSF one. Here's what it looked like after this patch:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1076482
You'll notice the BN herlad remained under the cab with the only difference being they replaced the 'BURLINGTON NORTHERN' text with the appropriately stylized and font'd 'BNSF'. In addition, they used a matching green color to block out or cover over where the 'BURLINGTON NORTHERN' text had been.
Then in later 2007/early 2008, the SD60Ms were assinged to the 8100-series to make room for the new SD70ACes. This unit naturally became BNSF 8167 which you can see here:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1411643
The patch job in this case was to change the '92' on the longhood to '81'. Simple enough, right? They used a background green color that was pretty close to the original paint, but the '81' appears to be of a different font. Or maybe it's just the bold version of the font they were using on all their other units. Regardless, they're back to the original number font when they renumbered this unit to BNSF 1444.
And now on to the latest iteration. The BN herald under the cab is gone and it appears they attempted to color match the green background of the '1444' patch there. But then you look at the patch on the longhood and it's darker green for some odd reason. Clearly they had a similar green when they moved the road number to the cab...did they run out of that color for the longhood? I have no idea, but the attention to detail has gone down with each subsequent patch job on these units. At least those nerds left the BN nose herald untouched!