Do the railraods really care what paint scheme a locomotive currently has? I have seen pictures of locomotives with some pretty ugly, filty or faded paint schemes. Even some with burn marks on the sides.
Depends on the railroad, but as a general rule I believe the 'roads only go for a repaint on the locomotives when they go in for a total overhaul. Until then as long as they can pull a train they really don't care much what they look like.
Even keeping them clean isn't as easy as it sounds, what with EPA regulations, or so I've been told. Anyone feel free to correct me on this.
I lived in Los Angeles in the mid 1980's
Locomotives
Southern Pacific clean but paint worn sometmes sorched around dynamic brakes.
Santa Fe - clean good paint.
Union Pacific looked good but painted over dirt, grease,and oil.
Track maintenance equipment
Southern Pacific - clean but repairs like glass replaced by plywood
Santa Fe - filthy, dirt,oil and grease
Union Pacific - good condition,clean, good paint
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Of couse pre-Amtrak most railroads did keep their passenger diesel power clean and paint decent. Still true today for BNSF and its contracted Chicago commuter trains.
daveklepperOf couse pre-Amtrak most railroads did keep their passenger diesel power clean and paint decent. Still true today for BNSF and its contracted Chicago commuter trains.
Passenger power is much easier to keep clean and maintained - the use of the locomotives is well defined by the schedules of the trains they operate and the layovers those schedules create.
Freight service on the other hand is predicated on keeping the locomotives pulling freight - as close to 24 hours a day as possible. Locomotives in freight service are only making money when they are pulling freight. The carriers only want to see their freight engines in the 'shop' every 92 days when they are due for their required Quarterly Inspections. During the periods between Q's the only attention the locomotives should get is filling with fuel and sand, toping up lube oil and cooling water, emptying the toilets and changing brake shoes as necessary.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Some years ago we spent a few days at the Isaak Walton Inn. I saw a LOT of trains, and at that time I was struck by how GOOD the BNSF engines looked. Quite spiffy.
I don't think I've ever seen either a photo of a BNSF locomotive, or one of the rare run-throughs we get around here, where the unit looked like a slum on wheels.
But of course, it's Mr. Buffett's railroad, he doesn't answer to Wall Street bottom-liners. Hey, he could have crews Simonizing his locomotives after runs and there's no-one to tell him he can't!
I should know this, but I don't.
Does Warren Buffett own the railroad, or does Berkshire Hathaway? If it's BH, do they own all the shares, or just a majority.
On the Illani rails forum a poster said that he saw a BNSF engine that was missing the N and S from the initials on the side of the unit. So the logo was B F. There are also pictures of very BNSF locos. But as previously said, engines only make money if the are hauling freight. They can get painted later.
Lithonia OperatorDoes Warren Buffett own the railroad, or does Berkshire Hathaway? If it's BH, do they own all the shares, or just a majority.
Folks can feel free to correct me on this, but it's my understanding Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway (Pretty much one and the same.) own the railroad outright, there's no shareholders, it's a private entity.
I believe Berkshire Hathaway is a public holding company. But a single share will run you over $300K at the moment, if you can find one. (I don't know how often anyone sells.) BH, I found, does own 100% of BNSF. And a ton of other companies!
I just looked it up, and I found this:
According to an SEC filing from last year, Warren Buffet had the economic ownership of 16.45% of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock and the voting power of 30.71% of their stock. The difference between the two is due to stock he donated to charitable trusts but maintained the voting rights of ...
So now I know.
caldreamerOn the Illani rails forum a poster said that he saw a BNSF engine that was missing the N and S from the initials on the side of the unit. So the logo was B F. There are also pictures of very BNSF locos. But as previously said, engines only make money if the are hauling freight. They can get painted later.
About 10 years ago or so - NS was purchasing new power and were so power short in the short term they had the manufacturer send the locomotives to the NS in primer so they could get them hauling freight and making money sooner. Once the traffic crunch slowed down the NS covered the primer with their normal company paint job.
In around the same time frame, BNSF did something similar with locomotives in base colors only with the trim and lettering (other than the number) applied later.
Then there were the units painted for the SFSP, the merger which never happened. I've seen pix from later where the SF and the SP just painted out the "other guy's" letters.
They actually painted them all new without the other railroad's letters. They just left the spaces blank for the other letters. When the merger was disapproved the units kept soldiering on with no trip back to the paint booth needed. Several hundred locomotives on both railroads received the yellow and red paint job. The ICC took a l-o-o-ong time to approve mergers in those days.
Thanks for that correction.
But didn't at least a few get the whole SFSP treatmeant?
Some of the units lettered for the Santa FE (SF) actually made it to the BNSF before being repainted.
Lithonia Operator ...didn't at least a few get the whole SFSP treatment?
As far as I know there were just the two ATSF SD45s that were done to show off how the Kodachrome scheme would look.
The comment about some of Santa Fe's Kodachromes making it to BNSF is interesting. As I recall the post-merger Santa Fe made a major point of repainting everything to the 'new' corporate schemes as a matter of policy, whether the units had new serviceable paint or not; I think no more than six old GEs were left 'unrepainted' by merger day. On SP (which was the surviving railroad under SFSP Industries) the scheme survived much, much longer...
A number of the kodachrome painted engines of various manufacturers and models made it into BNSF. As an example here is a link to apicture of a lodachrome C30-7 patched BNSF.
http://www.trainpix.com/bnsf/GEORIG/C30-7/5182.HTM
http://www.trainpix.com/BNSF/GEORIG/C30-7/5182.HTM
Lit up for you.
Thank you for linking it for me/
The six GEs I know of were C30-7s. Who has pictures of locomotives other than those?
Berkshire-Hathaway owns every piece of BNSF, real property, locos, track, ballast and all...everything!
Warren Buffet is the largest shareholder of B-H and owns about 31% of B-H. A Class "A" share of stock is going for about $313,000 a share. You can buy a Class "B" share for about $208 a share. Essentially the same, juat a smaller piece of the company.
I don't know if you knew it, but the FRA changed the locomotive inspection interval a few years ago. Anything with electronic air brake systems, which are most of them now, can go 184 days between inspections instead of 92.
Lithonia Operator I believe Berkshire Hathaway is a public holding company. But a single share will run you over $300K at the moment, if you can find one. (I don't know how often anyone sells.) BH, I found, does own 100% of BNSF. And a ton of other companies!
On October 26th, there were 307 shares of the $300k shares changing owner. BH also has B-shares that closed yesterday's sales at $208,49 and the volume changing owner was 4.474.497 shares. It's all in https://finance.yahoo.com/
Some Soo Line engines made it at least to the last couple of years, there may still be a few out there. Whoever thought painting an engine white was a good idea didn't anticipate what the engine would look after a couple decades of use.
CN operates a lot of ex-Soo track.
It will be interesting to see if a Soo unit makes it in to their heritage-painted fleet. They already have done a Wisconsin Central locomotive.
kgbw49 CN operates a lot of ex-Soo track. It will be interesting to see if a Soo unit makes it in to their heritage-painted fleet. They already have done a Wisconsin Central locomotive.
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