What hath BNSF wrought?! (New Logo/Paint Scheme)

Observed B-40 #574 this morning passing 18.34, EB with a short "merchandise" train.

The locomotive had been recently repainted into the light Orange livery, but it did NOT have "Flash Gordon' (or whatever the railfanese of the day is) lettering, rather it had the traditional BNSF.

Is somebody on Lou Menk Drive having second thoughts?

Even though I agree with most posts that the BNSF new logo scheme is too simple and boring and doesn't fit the carbodies of todays units, but could it have been introduced to save expenses on the Heritage I and Heritage II logos (even though BNSF is a class I railroad)? And some SD70MAC/SD70MAC-I units recieved a recieved a green and blue nose logo with blue-green(?) lettering on the cab. In the early years of BNSF (1996-1997), it could have been possible that since the railroad was new, they were experimenting with designs of the past and present, as well as from each other's railroad heritage. Even though the Heritage I and II schemes were common from 1997 until January 24th, 2005, BNSF ran all sorts of paint schemes as well as just to patching the older units. Until now, BNSF simplified it with a Heritage III design lettering.

One theory of mine of the railroad calling itself 'BNSF Railway' is to simplify the name. I'm sure there's people out there that wouldn't call if fully by 'Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway'. This was something like the Rock Island (It went from 'Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific' to 'The Rock').

I'm always calling the paint scheme style below my favorite.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=243014
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=479010

I went out to the west and saw so many unpainted ex-BN and ATSF engines. They were all eye catching and looked great. I say they keep these the way they are, and paint more engines BN cascade green and ATSF warbonnet. EMD to the BN, GE to the ATSF. BNSF is killing its history. Though I do have to say that the SD70ACes look good with the new paint.

The faster the BNSF Railway paints over the hideous "warbonnet" units the better, there has never been a more over rated color scheme in railroading history than that thing, I hate it, along the old Santa Fe railway company, they thought they were "God's Railroad", best thing that ever happened is the BNSF merger and the Heritage 1 scheme!

IC&E6565 wrote:The faster the BNSF Railway paints over the hideous "warbonnet" units the better, there has never been a more over rated color scheme in railroading history than that thing, I hate it, along the old Santa Fe railway company, they thought they were "God's Railroad", best thing that ever happened is the BNSF merger and the Heritage 1 scheme!

Why does everyone have hatred towards the ATSF? Are you saying that the Cascade green or executive is better than anything out of the Santa Fe? Plus how is orange and black better than the warbonnet?

Gentlemen,

You may respectfully disagree with one another about the asthetics and attributes of the classic ATSF Warbonnet, or lack thereof (depending on your opinion/perspective), but do NOT let it degrade into a flame war. I will NOT tolerate it.

That being said, your moderator is partial to BN's "Cascade Green" and also considers the ATSF Warbonnet a classic (and classy) scheme.

Your moderator would also like to see a new scheme evolve that better reflects the heritage and history of the two railroads, that is not only eye-catching, but economical for the railroads to spray on their rolling stock as well.

Now continue the discussion. But as GORT so warned...

"BEHAVE..."

IC&E6565 wrote:The faster the BNSF Railway paints over the hideous "warbonnet" units the better, there has never been a more over rated color scheme in railroading history than that thing, I hate it, along the old Santa Fe railway company, they thought they were "God's Railroad", best thing that ever happened is the BNSF merger and the Heritage 1 scheme!

BLASPHEMY!!! The red/silver warbonnet was the best paint scheme ever put on a locomotive.The blue/yellow warbonnet was one of the finest freight paint schemes ever devised.(I wrote this post before reading the above comments.)

It seems to me they've been searching for awhile to find a somewhat "Common" scheme to identify the new corporate image with, yet at the same time retain some of the separate "BN" and "AT&SF" heritage.

And therin lies the crux of the issue. How does one honor the two railroad heritages, yet establish a unified identiy for the new corporation?

Lets see a cascade green, black and white warbonnet.

I loathed Cascade Green with a passion, I never thought a color could be ugly and boring at the same time.
I was not that much in love with Big Sky Blue either but it was tolerable.
I never figured out why they kept the lame Burlington name and did not just call it the Great Northern Pacific, as far as that goes now they could call it the Santa Fe Northern.

The Red and Silver Warbonnet was the greatest railroad paint scheme ever bar none.
The current color is ok, but compared to the warbonnet boring.

I have a question regarding a sighting. I saw 2107 in what looked like fresh paint last night on a CSX freight from Chicago to Selkirk NY, then NY through Penna. and on to Florida. Is there any repainting going on off the property? I've heard of a few outfits in upstate NY that have done this for other RRs.

From pictures, it is obviously new paint, whether it is off property or on I don't know. But the RR probably wants to try to start to repaint those with the old roads paint. Plus it could just be a power share with BNSF units being added to a CSX train. I saw a BNSF unit in the middle of a NS freight in Cleveland.

I'm wondering because of the white sticker on the engineer's side short hood.