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  • Question about "executive" units...

  • Discussion related to BNSF operations. Official site: BNSF.COM
Discussion related to BNSF operations. Official site: BNSF.COM

Moderator: Komachi

 #1100779  by NellsChoo
 
Hello all

We have had two BNSF units lurking around MA lately. People are calling them "executive" units. Can someone explain what that means? Did they once lead BNSF business trains? Or is this just an old paint scheme? Below is a photo I took of one of the units yesterday...

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPictur ... id=3260780
 #1100788  by scottychaos
 
The particular units you are seeing were not "business train" units..
"executive" refers to that specific paint scheme, which was first used on BNSF F-units which *were* the BNSF Executive units, in the sense that
they did haul the business train..

The F-units first received the scheme in 1990, then, in 1993, the scheme was applied to over 400 BNSF SD70MAC's and the paint scheme was nicknamed "The BNSF Executive scheme" because of the F-units that originated the scheme..but the SD's were never "Executive units" in the "Business Train" sense..
(only the F-units were) but the SD70MAC's are still called "Executive units" because of their paint scheme..

Scot
Last edited by scottychaos on Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1100904  by scottychaos
 
quite unusual I would say!
especially in Mass!

There were "only" 428 of them..
some quick googling shows many of them are currently stored, and approx. 200 BNSF SD70MACs are still operating,
(although some of them might not be executive units, some are probably in other schemes)
But lets say 200 as a rough estimate for the still-operating Executive SD's (and that is probably high)..
The current BNSF fleet is about 3,200 locomotives..
so the executive units are about 6% of the fleet..so you have a 6% chance of seeing one, IF you are in BNSF territory! ;)
In Mass, the odds of seeing one are very very low..
so yeah, "unusual" definitely applies! :)
In Western NY, We get BNSF run-through power on CSX fairly often, and I haven't seen one in years..

Scot
 #1102139  by Backshophoss
 
That "bunch" of SD-70's were the first A/C motored engines bought by BN,ment to work the Powder River coal unit trains.
After the merger,and scads of GE's AC-44's and ES-44's wound up on the powder river coal trains,The 70MAC's started
to wander all over the BNSF.
 #1126753  by Tadman
 
I remember this order - it was the largest locomotive order to date other than wartime military/USRA orders. I also remember the first time I saw this units on a BN coal train in Chicago when they were spanking new. I grew up along Conrail(NYC) near South Bend and saw nothing but solid blue until the NS buyout, so it was interesting to see something different.

The executive F-unit fleet was dropped early on - they only worked for a few years. Then a few former commuter E's were painted the same, and I don't ever recall seeing those used. None of them were rebuilt or repowered, so that might be why they weren't used long for OCS trains. IRM has all of the above now, and BNSF pulls OCS trains with their newest available freight power.

See IRM Site:

BN1 http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/rsearch.cgi? ... thern=BN-1
BN2 http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/rsearch.cgi? ... thern=BN-2
BN3 http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/rsearch.cgi? ... thern=BN-3
 #1196047  by mtuandrew
 
Speaking of executive trains AND executive-painted units...

I just sat down at St. Paul Union Depot, where they have a really nice outdoor patio (with four hours of free guest WiFi!) between the tracks and Kellogg Blvd. When I glanced over to my left, I saw a pair of freight locomotives (I think a C44-9 in Phase 1 BNSF paint leading, and an executive SD70MAC behind) heading up the north leg of Westminster Junction with a couple of very odd passenger cars behind. Both were either bare metal or silver paint, with no discernable markings. The first looked like an old Budd-built coach with most of the windows plated over, and the second seemed to be a gallery car. There were no cars in front of them, and I couldn't see any additional cars behind these two. Sorry I couldn't get a better description, since they were nearly a mile away, but what are these cars?

EDIT: Found it! http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 43&nseq=36" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; What I saw was essentially identical to this track geometry train, except with a second locomotive in front of the Executive SD70MAC.
 #1231235  by sd80mac
 
Is it also that these are called "Eddie Bauer as well??

I saw somewhere on net or in mags that someone had said Eddie Bauer scheme.

Let me know if it's correct or not... If that's correct, why eddie bauer?

thanks
 #1232397  by GWoodle
 
sd80mac wrote:Is it also that these are called "Eddie Bauer as well??

I saw somewhere on net or in mags that someone had said Eddie Bauer scheme.

Let me know if it's correct or not... If that's correct, why eddie bauer?

thanks
Maybe someone driving an Eddie Bauer Ford. Special option truck/suv
 #1233268  by Backshophoss
 
The "green" color on the units was close to the color used in the "Eddie Bauer" trim level by Ford,
a marketing tie -in to the "Eddie Bauer" retail stores. This was $$$ trim level.
 #1233779  by sd80mac
 
Backshophoss wrote:The "green" color on the units was close to the color used in the "Eddie Bauer" trim level by Ford,
a marketing tie -in to the "Eddie Bauer" retail stores. This was $$$ trim level.

thanks... so it's one of the proper nicknames for this scheme? or is it not?