BNSF 101
by Peter MacCauley
GP60M BNSF 101 was delivered from GMDD as ATSF 101 in May of 1990. Transitioning to Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the wide nosed unit would be renumber BNSF 101 after the 1995 merger. Interesting that the four axle unit is still sporting ATSF ‘War Bonnet’ paint in Peter’s 2004 photo. In 1998, while still in original paint, ATSF 101 was involved in a serious altercation, suffering significant mechanical and fire damage. Post wreck repair, No. 101 was repainted in silver and red War Bonnet dress, albeit with ‘BNSF’ insignia. No. 101 would not receive the BNSF ‘Swoosh’ orange and black scheme until 2017.
The train shown is NS327 (Buffalo to Talbotville) passing under the Barwick Street overpass in St. Thomas. NS327 was a daily freight conveying body panels from the stamping plant in Buffalo NY to the Ford auto assembly facility in Talbotville. Note the coupled high cube boxcar. Sadly, the need for NS327, and its eastbound counterpart NS328, evaporated with the closure of the St Thomas Ford plant in September of 2011. Following razing of most of the assembly plant infrastructure, the empty property was acquired by Amazon and repurposed as a fulfillment center.
BNSF101 appears to still be active, seemingly assigned to local freight duties; far from the high profile intermodal duties the high horsepower unit was originally deployed into.
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