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Restyling BNSF - kudos to Tom Dannemann

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Posted by SchemerBob on Monday, January 7, 2008 5:34 PM

Here we go again. Sigh [sigh]

All I'm going to say this time is that I like the BNSF paint schemes and the new logo - there's nothing wrong with them, and I doubt BNSF is going to change their paint scheme just because everyone wants the warbonnet again. The warbonnet is not BNSF, it's Santa Fe - just as the Executive isn't BNSF, it's Burlington Northern.

And I highly doubt anything new that BNSF will come up with please any of you guys...Whistling [:-^]

It's a railroad, for pete's sake! At least its around and BNSF's bright orange yellow and black is much better than nothing at all.

Long live the BNSF .... AND its paint scheme. SchemerBob
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Posted by n012944 on Monday, January 7, 2008 4:49 PM
 agp1066 wrote:

Sorry No kudos. All the BNSF logos and colors --and the Great Western effort too--are no go's. They are all weak, indistinguishable, and on the level of third world airlines or class 3 railroads. They are unrecognizable at a distance, and look terrible when only slight dirty. They do not have a theme that can be expanded or merchandised or even made memorable. I used to work with designers in New York, San Francisco and the Boeing Company. (Yeah, OK they were for airliners, but the art and the science of logos and paint schemes are very very similar across all forms of transportation.) There are two railroad designs that are very distinctive, colorful and are recognized all over the world -- Santa Fe and the UP. These two timeless, handsome designs are very effective. And they have a world-wide franchise that has already been paid for. I can sit here and type all night on this subject, but I'm glad someone finally spoke up about BNSF, that tongue-tying no name, that when spoken in front of non-railfans always results in a "What did you say" response. Time to stop the amateur back-of-a-napkin at dinner design stuff. It is time that railroading got some professional design help, some communications skills and start showing class again.

The people that need to know how to say a railroad name, the shippers, can say it just fine.  Railroads are not like airlines, railroads do not need Joe Public to book a ticket off Orbitz.  They need companies like Com-ed and UPS to know who they are. 

An "expensive model collector"

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 7, 2008 12:37 AM

Sorry No kudos. All the BNSF logos and colors --and the Great Western effort too--are no go's. They are all weak, indistinguishable, and on the level of third world airlines or class 3 railroads. They are unrecognizable at a distance, and look terrible when only slight dirty. They do not have a theme that can be expanded or merchandised or even made memorable. I used to work with designers in New York, San Francisco and the Boeing Company. (Yeah, OK they were for airliners, but the art and the science of logos and paint schemes are very very similar across all forms of transportation.) There are two railroad designs that are very distinctive, colorful and are recognized all over the world -- Santa Fe and the UP. These two timeless, handsome designs are very effective. And they have a world-wide franchise that has already been paid for. I can sit here and type all night on this subject, but I'm glad someone finally spoke up about BNSF, that tongue-tying no name, that when spoken in front of non-railfans always results in a "What did you say" response. Time to stop the amateur back-of-a-napkin at dinner design stuff. It is time that railroading got some professional design help, some communications skills and start showing class again.

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Posted by nanaimo73 on Sunday, January 6, 2008 10:12 PM
 Lord Atmo wrote:

AGAIN:

who's Tom Dannemann and where can i see his scheme ideas?

He is the art director of the magazine. Look in the new issue or try this link-
http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=2925

I'd like to see them use the Kodachrome scheme.

Dale
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Posted by Lord Atmo on Sunday, January 6, 2008 9:59 PM

AGAIN:

who's Tom Dannemann and where can i see his scheme ideas?

Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.

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Posted by chefjavier on Sunday, January 6, 2008 8:06 PM
You got a point. What was the theme of Santa Fe {Dark blue & Yellow letters}Confused [%-)]
Javier
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Posted by YoHo1975 on Sunday, January 6, 2008 6:32 PM
The Former executive scheme and really the classic BN scheme are nice, but they really just don't match the Warbonnet for sheer awesomeness.
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Posted by AlcoRS11Nut on Sunday, January 6, 2008 6:30 PM
What about the BN scheme for the SD70MAC's they had in the Powder River Basin on coal trains...the dark green and creme paint scheme looked nice.
I love the smell of ALCo smoke in the Morning. "Long live the 251!!!" I miss the GBW and my favorite uncle is Uncle Pete. Uncle Pete eats Space Noodles for breakfast.
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, January 6, 2008 4:42 PM
Heritage 1 is my favorite. They should have gone with that and the Santa Fe style Heritage scheme if thats what you call it. Silver and Red looks pretty sharp and classy and the H1 is simple and straightforward. Cant make everyone happy I guess. I would like to see a Heritage program like the UP. I would like to see a new ace in CB&Q ''blackbird''...
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Posted by Nataraj on Sunday, January 6, 2008 2:40 PM
I saw a article in Trains mag that suggested the name:

Great Western

I think its a good idea...
Nataraj -- Southern Pacific RULES!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The GS-4 was the most beautiful steam engine that ever touched the rails.
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Posted by ouengr on Saturday, January 5, 2008 8:31 PM
I really do not like any of the BNSF paint schemes.  Every one that they have had look terrible with in a year or two.  I have seen pictures of SD70ACes and Gevos that look terrible.  The orange just does not appear stable.  BNSF would be well advised to dump the current paint scheme, name, etc and start over with a new corporate image.
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Posted by SD60M on Saturday, January 5, 2008 6:35 PM
I like the heritage units but i'll take a cascade green BN unit anyday!
Long Live The Burlington Northern!
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Posted by Lord Atmo on Saturday, January 5, 2008 5:56 PM
who's Tom Dannemann and where can i see his scheme ideas?

Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.

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Posted by Nataraj on Saturday, January 5, 2008 2:19 PM
I dont think the new logo looks too bad....
Nataraj -- Southern Pacific RULES!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The GS-4 was the most beautiful steam engine that ever touched the rails.
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Posted by chefjavier on Saturday, January 5, 2008 1:05 AM
 YoHo1975 wrote:

I don't mind the Heritage schemes, but I'll never understand why they dumped the most well known paint scheme in all of railroading.

 

LONG LIVE THE WARBONNET! 

I agree with you 100%Thumbs Up [tup] WARBONNET!

Javier
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Posted by Texas Chief on Friday, January 4, 2008 11:46 PM
 YoHo1975 wrote:

I don't mind the Heritage schemes, but I'll never understand why they dumped the most well known paint scheme in all of railroading.

 

LONG LIVE THE WARBONNET! 

I agree 100%. That was just totally ASININE!!! (Pardon the spelling.)

Dick

Texas Chief

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Posted by YoHo1975 on Friday, January 4, 2008 10:20 PM

I don't mind the Heritage schemes, but I'll never understand why they dumped the most well known paint scheme in all of railroading.

 

LONG LIVE THE WARBONNET! 

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Posted by arkansasrailfan on Friday, January 4, 2008 7:05 PM
I like HI and the newest scheme.
-Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
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Restyling BNSF - kudos to Tom Dannemann
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 4, 2008 6:53 PM
Tom Danneman really hit the nail on the head with this one.  BNSF got it right the first time with the Heritage I scheme.  A new look for a new railroad that worked on all locomotives.  Heritage II was more about the ego of Robb Krebbs than anything else. Nice only when clean, and sorry Robb, but yellow on top of orange just doesn't cut the mustard (no pun intended).  The "Powerbar" scheme is a big improvement over Heritage II but the nose is definitely missing something.  Don't expect BNSF to respond by adapting Tom's suggested schemes but we can only hope that some influential party in their organization at least takes notice ......  if is isn't broken, don't attempt to fix it guys ......

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