BNSF 962 • Carson CA • 01/05/09 - a photo on Flickriver

            The (Slight) Downside of Standardized Parts

When the Burlington Northern Railroad and Santa Fe Railway merged on September 22, 1995, each of the two component roads had two official paint schemes, for a total of four for the new BNSF.  So, naturally, after some small tweaks to the existing schemes (such as changing the lettering on ATSF's "Superfleet" scheme to BNSF, or changing the lettering and logo to BNSF on BN's Grinstein Green and Cream scheme), the new order of GE Dash 9-44CWs numbered 960 to 1123, and delivered beginning in June 1996, wore an all-new scheme that harkened back to the old Great Northern scheme of dark green and orange.  This scheme would, of course, get changed later …  and later, yet, as well, when the railway's name and logo changed in 2010, and the dark green became black.  Which is fine, as variety is the spice of life.  But …  in an age of standardized parts for locomotive fleets, which saves a great deal of money, the downside is that the shop forces often use a part painted in another paint scheme to repair engines.  This most often occurs when air conditioners on GE diesels get replaced – a defective A/C unit gets removed, and a working one gets installed, resulting in minimal downtime for an engine.  But, with Dash 9-44CWs in four paint schemes on the BNSF, very often the replacement part doesn't match.  The crews don't care, of course, as they just want a working air conditioner.  And those of us just watching trackside get to look for engines with non-matching replacement parts, which can be kind of fun, as evidenced by BNSF Dash 9-44CW 962, the third unit delivered in the "Heritage I*" paint scheme, with an air conditioner from either an old ATSF or BNSF Dash 9 painted in the "Superfleet" scheme.  (Carson, California – January 5, 2009) 
 
* - The name for this scheme was originally just Heritage, but Roman Numeral "II"s and "III"s were used by railfans for the later schemes, so the "I" was added to the original green and orange scheme to make it a bit more clear…

Taken in: United States / California / Dominguez Junction (show map)

Taken on: January 5, 2009

Tags:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

Burlington Northern Santa Fe

BNSF

BNSF 962

Dash 9-44CW

C44-9W

General Electric

Carson California

Carson CA

ACTA Alameda Corridor Subdivision

ACTA Alameda Corridor Sub

Alameda Corridor Subdivision

Alameda Corridor

ACTA

westbound

BNSF 962-BNSF 4802-BNSF 7464

49352

built 7/96

1872-3

train

diesel

locomotive

railroad

railway « less

Sets appears in: • Railroading 2009 • BNSF Railway

Groups appears in: • North American Railfanning • BNSF - Burlington Northern Santa Fe more » • GE Locomotives • Burlington Northern Santa Fe • Western Railroads • Steel Rails Across North America. • Railroad Photographer USA/Canada • Railfans Of America • Trains of the U.S.A. • Class 1 Railroads • U.S. Railfan Pictures • ATSF and BNSF • Class I Railroads • Class 1 and Passenger • Modern Railfans • California Railfans • Western US Rails • Urban Railfanning • Railfan Atlas • BNSF Circle Logos • Worldwide Railfanning (WRP Flickr) • Railfan Nation « less

Camera: Nikon D70, f/8.0, 1/250 sec, 70mm (=105mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D70
Lens:	18.0-70.0 mm f/3.5-4.5
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 22.1 (Macintosh)
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