An Afternoon of Sweet Lashups on the BNSF at Prairie du Chien 7/26/2008

We went to Prairie du Chien to railfan the BNSF (ex-BN/ex-ex-CB&Q) line on Saturday, July 26. We only caught three trains that afternoon, which is fairly low for the amount of traffic on the line, but they all had some nice power.

Immediately after we arrived and pulled up next to the La Pointe Street grade crossing, a pure BN Green Geep consist came around the bend and was upon us in seconds. GP39V BNSF 2978 leads GP50 3122 on a westbound.

Next is an eastbound intermodal under the command of three H2 Dash 9s. BNSF 5402 leads, followed by 4509 and 4352.

Then came the grand finale. A HUGE 11-unit lashup crowned by Santa Fe Warbonnet B40-8W BNSF 555, pulls a 124-car eastbound manifest. The power also included a Soo Line SD60 (No. 6051), five BNSF H1 SD40-2s (8014, 7892, 7844, 7860, 7915) and four BN Green SD40-2s (7866, 7073, 7914, 7166).

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• train
• railroad
• railway
• railfan
• Burlington
• Northern
• Santa
• Fe
• BNSF
• ATSF
• BN
• Soo
• Line
• GE
• C44-9W
• B40-8W
• EMD
• SD40-2
• SD60
• GP50
• locomotive

[blueloud32]

loved that first horn... what type was  that?

[HighIronofWisconsin]

I think it was some kind of Leslie. S-3K most likely.

[MattBNSF1991]

did you ever know what was the story with the SD40-2's?

sad that most are gone right now.

[HighIronofWisconsin]

Nope, I don't know.

[streetcarbrad]

Great video!

[MattBNSF1991]

great!,

yeah i got lucky too, when i first arrived in prarie du chien I got an Oakway and a SD40-2

incredible 3rd train!! sheesh

[BNSF2184]

@masonclan

It does, it sounds awful. IDK if its a RS3L RS3K M3 M5 or RS5T, when a horn sounds bad, its time for a replacement. I like the RS3K, but there are several nasty ass ones out there that need to go.

[HighIronofWisconsin]

@masonclan I agree with him. The horn may be an RS3L, but it is in very poor shape.

[masonclan]

@BNSF2184 you said bnsf 555 needed a new horn

[BNSF2184]

@masonclan

???? I didnt follow up on any of that

[masonclan]

@BNSF2184 don't say that the Leslie RS3L is one of the best horns ever made and only a few RS3Ls sound like that, and i was lucky to even catch a train with that horn and it is in my video called 4 trains in 20 minutes

[masonclan]

NOW that was a leslie RS3L on the last train

[JeremiahTrane]

Very nice catches, I need to get back there for a day and RR fan, hopefully on a day I go I hit it good

[Jamersonde]

That's a lot of short hopper cars on the first train!

[BNSF6127]

The extra SD40-2's on the train were headed for lease on NS and soon became HLCX units.

[BNSF6127]

If you pause the vid, you can see the horn up top -a Nathan K3. Although I agree it sounds almost identical to an S3-K. Also, the leader doesn't seem to have reflective stripes?