Western Wednesday


Here's a trio of grain hoppers traveling southbound for overseas shipment from the Gulf.
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KriegslokBR52 said:
What is the "exacutive scheme"...and what is the "pumpkin" scheme? Because there are at least two of the orange and dark green variants.
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I think you will find that that is the nose and tail of the same orange unit.

The Executive Scheme is the cream and Northern Pacific Loewy dark green. Started as only the Executive Fleet BN#1, BN#2, and BN#3. See RailPicturesArchive.net image below. Then they decided to use it on what they called "high horsepower" units, that were beginning to arrive from the manufacturers. They (mostly SD70s) dominated the southbound coal trains out of Wyoming for several years. Then the merger happened.

Originally (after the merger) they thought they would do a "green warbonnet" with those colors which sounds cool but was not. Then the new president decided he liked the old Empire Builder scheme and BNSF heritage 1 came about. They missed both colors from Empire Builder. Both colors are too bright, so it was nick named the pumpkin. Orange with a green stem. It didn't help when they added the yellow striping with the heritage 2, but then they got smart and made the green darker as it should be with the heritage 3 scheme which is the one shown in the picture. I do have to say that with weathering both the orange and green look better than in new paint.

And then it got worse when they went from pumpkin to totally Halloween replacing the green with black. And then WORSE when they went to the wedgie logo. A wedgie on Halloween, how many bad memories does that bring back as a corporate image.

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Iron Horseman said:
I think you will find that that is the nose and tail of the same orange unit.

The Executive Scheme is the cream and Northern Pacific Loewy dark green. Started as only the Executive Fleet BN#1, BN#2, and BN#3. See RailPicturesArchive.net image below. Then they decided to use it on what they called "high horsepower" units, that were beginning to arrive from the manufacturers. They (mostly SD70s) dominated the southbound coal trains out of Wyoming for several years. Then the merger happened.

Originally they thought they would do a "green warbonnet" with those colors which sounds cool but was not. Then the new president decided he liked the old Empire Builder scheme and BNSF heritage 1 came about. They missed both colors from Empire Builder. Both colors are too bright, so it was nick named the pumpkin. Orange with a green stem. It didn't help when they added the yellow striping with the heritage 2, but then they got smart and made the green darker as it should be with the heritage 3 scheme which is the one shown in the picture. I do have to say that with weathering both the orange and green look better than in new paint.

And then it got worse when they went from pumpkin to totally Halloween replacing the green with black. And then WORSE when they went to the wedgie logo. A wedgie on Halloween, how many bad memories does that bring back as a corporate image.

BN%201B.JPG
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I like the Great Northern motif where you can see the green and without those multiple yellow lines. Then again the original paint schemes from GN, CB&Q and NP are in my eyes far more tasteful than anything of today. Saw this in Montana also as i was heading west:
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The simplicity of it and the likeness to the GN scheme is very attractive, so i agree fully. No clue what you classify this, but the dark green is clearly visible. The diesel was photographed at the east side of Havre.
This gem was standing on one of the sidings in Spokane:
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A day late, sorry
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East Scenic looking toward Cascade Tunnel on the old Great Northern.
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This Kenworth bus was custom built for Great Northern to serve the route between Whitefish and Kalispell in Montana. This was as a result of ending of railcar service between two cities to make the service more economical. Today this combination bus is on display in front of Whitefish station.
 
KriegslokBR52 said:
A day late, sorryView attachment 186131
East Scenic looking toward Cascade Tunnel on the old Great Northern.
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Boy, that looks to be an old picture. Lots of stuff missing. Also, is that tall signal on the right a really old ventilation signal? My days there in the 90's had pretty much a light bulb on a telephone pole for the vent signal, probably the one to the right. Give 'Insert Train Here' thread a look and you can somewhat see that.

Later
 
ctclibby said:
Boy, that looks to be an old picture. Lots of stuff missing. Also, is that tall signal on the right a really old ventilation signal? My days there in the 90's had pretty much a light bulb on a telephone pole for the vent signal, probably the one to the right. Give 'Insert Train Here' thread a look and you can somewhat see that.

Later
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I'm not sure about signals, but the picture is very recent. That was last August on my western trip.
 
KriegslokBR52 said:
I'm not sure about signals, but the picture is very recent. That was last August on my western trip.
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Wow, I guess I have not been up there for awhile. Did you drive up a little further? There is an access road ( maybe used to be? ) off to the right you can drive into and park. This is from 2010; you can see where the Jersey Barriers kinda split almost across from the radio/camera tower. A car is sitting there that you can barely make out ( left front fender only shows ).
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All in all, still a great place to train watch. Another one same date just for grins and giggles:
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In case you don't know, East Portal also has an access road to get to the hole. US2 comes back together about 1.5 miles from Berne. Where it comes together the access road is on the North ( Left if you are heading downhill ). Check that out next time.

Later
 
ctclibby said:
Wow, I guess I have not been up there for awhile. Did you drive up a little further? There is an access road ( maybe used to be? ) off to the right you can drive into and park. This is from 2010; you can see where the Jersey Barriers kinda split almost across from the radio/camera tower. A car is sitting there that you can barely make out ( left front fender only shows ).
View attachment 186176

All in all, still a great place to train watch. Another one same date just for grins and giggles:
View attachment 186178

In case you don't know, East Portal also has an access road to get to the hole. US2 comes back together about 1.5 miles from Berne. Where it comes together the access road is on the North ( Left if you are heading downhill ). Check that out next time.

Later
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Cool, i did not know 737 boddies were getting through there. Besides that, the place looks the same. On the second pick you're standing almost directly over the track on top of the portal.
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The same spot after dark. Right behind is a creek and a little opening where i parked my car and slept for two nights in the row. Awesome place and seems so far away from the world. I did stop at the east portal since i was traveling from the east:
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