BNSF Railway - Public Image

Public Image

The assortment of colors used on the BNSF makes it one of the most colorful large railroads in North America. Many locomotives are painted in "Heritage" schemes, which are primarily based on the Great Northern Railway's colors of orange and dark green. Other designs include the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's silver-and-red "Warbonnet", and a modified version of the "Heritage II" scheme with BNSF's new logo (adopted in 2005) and black rather than dark green. Some older units continue to bear the Grinstein Green and Crème of predecessor Burlington Northern Railroad or the Santa Fe's blue and yellow.

• Common locomotive paint schemes

• "Warbonnet"

• "Heritage I"

• "Heritage II"

• "New Image" (introduced in 2005, sometimes referred to as Heritage III)

• "BN Executive" scheme with "BNSF" on the side

• "Old ATSF" scheme. The letters "BNSF" are below the locomotive's cab.

The first locomotive to bear BNSF lettering was BN SD70MAC No. 9647, introduced in late August 1995, just as the Interstate Commerce Commission was approving the merger. VMV Paducahbilt in Paducah, Kentucky painted it in a one-of-a-kind "commemorative" scheme, combining ATSF's "Warbonnet" with BN's "Executive" colors of dark "Grinstein green" and cream (instead of SF's red and silver). "BNSF" replaced "SANTA FE" on the front of the unit, and "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" was painted on the side. Dubbed as "Premium Heritage," the paint scheme was widely rejected by the public, and was often called the "Vomit Bonnet."

The BN however, did not stop using its "Executive" colors on its current order of EMD SD70MACs. Experimenting with distributed power equipment in 1995, four units (9713–9716) were built between June and July 1995; making these units numbered ahead of the current production order (9617-9645). On December 28, 1995, SD70MAC 9708 emerged from the EMD London, Ontario facility as the last unit for the Burlington Northern in 1995. However, units 9709 and 9710 were completed shortly thereafter and did not appear somewhere between January 1 and January 8. Originally believed that units 9711 and 9712 would emerge as BN 9711 and 9712 to fill in the gap between 9710 and 9713, these units were the very first locomotives to carry a short-lived font of "BNSF" along the carbodies, yet retaining the executive scheme without any major modifications. At that point, 9710 was now deemed as the very last new locomotive delivered to the Burlington Northern.

By January 1996, BNSF had begun painting locomotives in the old BN and ATSF schemes but with "BNSF" on the side. Then, in late May, the company introduced a new design on BN SD60M 9297 (now 8197), painted mainly in BN predecessor Great Northern Railway's pre-1967 colors of orange and dark "Pullman green," but also incorporating red and silver, and said to represent all three major BN predecessors and the ATSF. On the front was a new logo, placing "Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway" in the old ATSF cross. Some of the striping details were different on each side, and employees voted for the simpler right-side design, which, with some minor changes, became the new scheme, replacing the old BN colors. However, president and CEO Robert Krebs said the railroad was big enough for two designs, and the ATSF "Warbonnet" (with "BNSF" instead of "Santa Fe" on the front) remained alongside the new "Heritage I" scheme. A third "Heritage II" scheme appeared by September 1998, with "Warbonnet"-style yellow trim and BNSF nosepiece replacing the new logo. As for test locomotive No. 9297 (now 8197), when a passing crew saw its prominent orange, it was jokingly dubbed the "Great Pumpkin," a name that has stuck among railfans for that particular unit.

On January 24, 2005, as part of its tenth anniversary celebration, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway was renamed BNSF Railway, which adopted a new logo. By March, the logo had been applied to the sides and fronts of six ES44DCs, which were otherwise painted in the "Heritage II" scheme, except with black replacing dark green. Slight differences were present on the six locomotives, and on April 11 BNSF officially chose the design it had applied to No. 7701. The most notable difference was on 7695, which features the logo in yellow rather than black. Other unique locomotives include Dash 9-44CW 4723, with stickers announcing its presence in Microsoft Train Simulator.