BNSF Paint Schemes

[kfleeman1]

What caused BNSF to switch from Heritage 1 to Heritage 2 paint? I know they switched from H2 to H3 "swoosh" because the asians didn't like the circle with the cross inside. Just wondering what caused the H1 to H2 switch.

Also, how long do you think it will be until we see H4 from BNSF?

[Anonymous]

Number one,there is no such thing as a so-called swoosh on the BNSF. BNSF has no swoosh. Some retard at Trains come up with that. Number two,as far as I know the new BNSF image H3 will be the last of it's kind on the BNSF system. BNSF is known as the BNSF RAILWAY. Allan.

[UPTRAIN]

Yeah, don't call it the "Swoosh" call it the "Powerbar" or some crap like that...he throws a fricken fit and thinks you're disrespecting the mighty BNSF Railway...even though I and many other UP fans haven't had anything to say when anybody mentions anything bad about UPRR. .

I'm not really sure about the H1 to 2 change, I just know it happened in Summer 1997 if I remember correctly. I like the H-1, I liked the smaller yellow stripes and green letters on the long hood.

[Murphy Siding]

Not to get in the middle of some ongoing Hatfield & McCoy fued thing, but I've always wondered something. BN / BNSF has had perhaps dozens of different paint schemes , since they started with Cascade Green. UP seems to have had the same paint scheme since they purchased their first FT's. Have there been other UP schemes, or has this one evolved over the years?

Thanks

[eolafan]

Folks, the circle with the cross in it originally had nothing at tall to do with any of the Christian faiths but rather is a very old native American symbol, so let's get things right before commiting them to print, shall we.

[Anonymous]

Now I have to admit that the BNSF round logo looks very good on the SD40-2's and all other Locomotive Power. Allan.

[coborn35]

Yes it does. What do Asians have to do with anything???

[Anonymous]

paint can potpouri................what do you expect, heck let all railroads class one and shortlines included, basic black with only reporting marks and numberboards, see simple paint scheme and easy to do.
craig

[kfleeman1]

BNSF's primary freight is intermodal. The Asians come into play because most intermodal involves Asia (most of our products are made there). The Asians religious beliefs cause them to be offended by the old "evil" BNSF circle with cross. They threatened to quit (or at least reduce) intermodal shipments by BNSF as a result. This is why BNSF changed from H2 to H3, to get rid of the circle with cross and therefore make the Asians happy again so that they would continue shipping through BNSF.

In my view, the Asians should have been smart enough to realize that the old "evil" (in their eyes) BNSF logo had nothing to do with their religious beliefs and that the logo just simply (by coincidence) looked similar to an offensive symbol in their beliefs. Unfortunately they did not see it this way, and pressured BNSF into their new H3 "swoosh" logo. Just another victim of political correctness, although you can't blame BNSF for changing the logo in the face of losing big profits if they didn't. I just wish BNSF would have chosen a reasonable looking logo. In my view the "swoosh" is just plain terrible looking.

Sorry to bore you to death. Just wanted to explain the Asian's part in the H2-H3 switch. I'm sure others can explain it more correctly and in better detail.

[Murphy Siding]

kfleeman1: Where did that info come from? Sounds like an urban legend to me.

[coborn35]

Yes. It was because they had just changed their name and wanted a new corpate image.

[kfleeman1]

From what I understand the name change and logo change came came from the Asian pressures. They just changed the name along with the logo. This is all just what I have come to believe, not saying I'm right or wrong.

Here is a link to some more on this subject:
http://www.railpictures.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2640

[Murphy Siding]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kfleeman1

From what I understand the name change and logo change came came from the Asian pressures. They just changed the name along with the logo. This is all just what I have come to believe, not saying I'm right or wrong.

Here is a link to some more on this subject:
http://www.railpictures.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2640

Well.......a link to a message board discussion full of people calling each other names and slinging insults might not be what everybody would consider a good source.[;)]

[rrandb]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan.

Number one,there is no such thing as a so-called swoosh on the BNSF. BNSF has no swoosh. Some retard at Trains come up with that. Number two,as far as I know the new BNSF image H3 will be the last of it's kind on the BNSF system. BNSF is known as the BNSF RAILWAY. Allan.

DUD Are You reffering to the (CB&Q) B (NP) N (AT&SF) SF (railroad) RAILWAY. This probably will not be the last name for them much less the last paint/logo. It is just a matter of time. They going to keep trying till they get it right. What did BNSF railway name the latest logo. Answer: its called nothing at bnsf.com.. P.S. I like it. ENJOY

[kfleeman1]

If you don't believe the story about the H2-H3 change that's fine. Maybe I'm wrong about the whole deal. I can understand how this could have come about. I just makes sense to me. I'm not gonna argue with ya, whatever you think is fine with me.

Either way, let's try to get back to what this thread originally was about. What was BNSF's reason for switching from H1 to H2? Does anybody know? Also, how long do you think H3 will be around until we see a new scheme from BNSF?

And about calling H3 the "swoosh" scheme, I will call it whatever I want to until a law is passed that says it must be called a specific name. It's completely ridiculous that we are told what we can and can't call a railroad paint scheme.

[rrandb]

If you say s----h he'll go slap off. I know its true cause I've seen it with my own two eyes. [:-,]

[Anonymous]

Nice topic, again. However, I personally take issue with the usage of the word "RETARD"! As a parent of a learning disabled child and past leader of a Down Syndrome charity organization, AND with the times calling for being politically correct, the word RETARD is un-acceptable. Too many connotations of which one I am not at ease with. Thus, perhaps the english majors within this forum of which I see many, could use the words learning disabled, intelectually challenged, but not Retard. I dont know about your particular state but here in Michigan the Knights of Columbus finally changed their yellow reflective vests from saying "help the Mentally Retarded" to the "handicapped " which is an improvement.

Please be careful of word usage. I am not that sensitive or always politcally correct myself, but "retard" is not acceptable. The word is close to an expletive in my book and perhaps the forum administrators might see likewise.
Thanks for hearing me out.

[chad thomas]

SWOOSH,SWOOSH,SWOOSH.....[:D].....Get over it Allan.

[;)]

[rrandb]

Isn't POWERBAR one of those energy bars you eat that tastes like dirt.??? [:)]

[kfleeman1]

I've never had one, but yes Powerbar is an energy bar. Check out their logo at the link below. It makes it pretty easy to see why BNSF's new logo is called the Powerbar by some people.

http://www.powerbar.com/

[kfleeman1]

I've never had one, but yes Powerbar is an energy bar. Check out their logo at the link below. It makes it pretty easy to see why BNSF's new logo is called the Powerbar by some people.

http://www.powerbar.com/

[eolafan]

What a REALLY dumb thread...let's move on, shall we?

[ironhorseman]

When BNSFgoes plaid then I'll start worrying about their paint schemes.

[X-)]

[ValorStorm]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding

Not to get in the middle of some ongoing Hatfield & McCoy fued thing, but I've always wondered something. BN / BNSF has had perhaps dozens of different paint schemes , since they started with Cascade Green. UP seems to have had the same paint scheme since they purchased their first FT's. Have there been other UP schemes, or has this one evolved over the years?

Thanks

Other than the new zig-zag (or "lightning stripe" -- I don't wanna offend anyone by using the wrong moniker) and the yellow frame stripe replacing the traditional red, the only major color scheme change on the UP was the very first one: from Armour Yellow & Chocolate to Armour Yellow & Harbor Mist Grey.
And thanks, Murphy Siding, for your valiant attempt at changing the subject. There's entirely too much "trans-pubescent trauma" in this thread.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrandb

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan.

Number one,there is no such thing as a so-called swoosh on the BNSF. BNSF has no swoosh. Some retard at Trains come up with that. Number two,as far as I know the new BNSF image H3 will be the last of it's kind on the BNSF system. BNSF is known as the BNSF RAILWAY. Allan.

DUD Are You reffering to the (CB&Q) B (NP) N (AT&SF) SF (railroad) RAILWAY. This probably will not be the last name for them much less the last paint/logo. It is just a matter of time. They going to keep trying till they get it right. What did BNSF railway name the latest logo. Answer: its called nothing at bnsf.com.. P.S. I like it. ENJOY

I can't see why not. I mean the UP has had the same old "Boring" name for over a 150 years.

[ironhorseman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan.
... the UP has had the same old "Boring" name for over a 150 years.

On a trivial note, the UP has been the "Union Pacific" but the full name has changed from 'Railway' to 'Railroad' to 'Corporation' over the years.

I remember reading in a book a book or several books that in 1897 the UP that built the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s finally collapsed and was bought and reorganized with the name only being changed from railway to railroad. A quick check at www.up.com confirmed this take over (http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/uprr-chr.shtml see '1897').

If you look in Union Pacific Country by Athearn, Rober G. 1971
Pg 372
July 1, 1897 - new corporation organized as Union Pacific Railroad Company. A British company rumored to want to buy both UP and KP (Kansas Pacific). Sale of the old Union Pacific Railway, forclosure

Pg 373
February 1, 1898 - Union Pacific Railroad Company asumed function of Union Pacific Railway Company. Consisted of the road between Council Bluffs and Ogden. The KP came under UP control on April 1.

The Kansas Pacific merger into the UP was probably in partial, but not total, blame for the early UP's demise. If anyone is familiar with railroad history in this era, one will know that Jay Gould did his best to promote his own interest and wreck any railroad that stood in his way (in other words every other railroad out there).

"JAY GOULD - made his fortune as a director of New York's Erie Line by issuing $64 million in fradulent stock. In 1874 he took his boodle West, bought control of both the UP and KP, sold the KP at $10 million profit and used the money to establish a fabulously lucrative rail empire in the Southwest."
-from The Railroaders, Wheeler, Keith - text, 1973, Pg 214

The UP collapsed under it's own weight due to:

• mounting unpaid federal debt
• KP absorbtion

Pg 225
"The Kansas Pacific purchase...[1880]...is attributed largely to pressure exerted by Jay Gould."

Also if you look at http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/uprrover.shtml you will notice that the company's name is Union Pacific Corporation with Union Pacific Railroad being the subsidiary of said corporaation.

The BNSF, as reported by Trains Magazine, has dropped it's full name Burlington Northern Santa Fe in favor of it's call letters BNSF. However, if you look at their liscensee info page ( http://www.bnsf.com/aboutbnsf/license.html ) you will note that "Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation" is the parent company for "BNSF Railway." If you browse through their company history ( http://www.bnsf.com/aboutbnsf/history/index.html ) you will find they like to embrace their diverse heritage, recognizing all their predecessors. I remember specifically a time when the old Santa Fe Railway was officially know as the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation as it was printed on the cover of their 1993 annual report (I still have it).

But what do us railfans care about the specifics of a railroad's name? I think it's just part of our culture to abbreviate and drop all the extenstions. It's just BNSF now, nevermind the railway or the corporation attachment. CSX is faster to say and easier to remember than CSX Transportation, Inc. And so it goes with any other railroad or business.

Sorry if I bored anyone. I thought we could use some useless trivia.