Firing Up A Santa Fe GP30 at Commerce

There's always some railroad action at the BNSF Locomotive Facility in Commerce, CA. The classic EMD GP30 locomotives are still busy working here, doing mostly switching work in Southern California. With shiny new paint, they look refurbished and ready for many more years of service. I caught #2468 being fired up, billowing white smoke.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• EMD
• GP30
• Santa
• Fe
• BNSF
• Commerce

[Conraildan]

what kind of engine was that behind the GP30? it kind of reminds me of a SD24 or GP20 with the slanted nose.

[cchan006]

Could have been a GP35u (rebuilt GP35) as few of those were in the area back then.

[mygirl22ward]

Did the ATSF or BNSF ever consider converting their GP-30's into "mother-slug" combos like the CSX did? I dont know if any other road that did this. Its weird seeing a 30 with smooth sides and filled with concrete!

[cchan006]

I haven't heard of a Santa Fe or Burlington Northern mother/slug GP30's, but Union Pacific had the cab-less GP30B's.

[verastaki]

Here Vancouver, Washington got rid of all SW 1200 and 1500 it seems and now are using same GP30 and other GP engines instead for shuntning.

[cchan006]

I remember seeing a white-face BN GP30 in Vancouver last time I was there. I hope they stay around for a while.

[michigandon]

Warms the cockles of my heart to see a "30" still on the job!

[BNSF5608]

And she coems alive with a cough and a hack then already starts whining. Turbo whine that is :D

[tarmac2001]

A locomotive that was made 40+ years ago and still working for a class I railroad that's also a top Fortune 500 company! Now that's an amazing piece of machinery.

[123legodude]

@coolman1558 you forgot one thing for the british locomotives [put put put (big cloud of black smoke begines to blow out) put put put...]

[coolman1558]

@123legodude GP-30 next to British locomotive

[GP-30 Starts up]: sqeeelc put put RRRAAAAWWWWRRRREEE

[British engine leaks oil in fear of the big engine] : put put put ptu put put- multiple turnovers of starter, but to no avail locomotive dies in fright of GP-30

[123legodude]

@coolman1558 yea right. their engines pull only a quarter of the cars that the american trains can pull. those pussy trains in Britain will have to use like 6 of their locos just to pull a full length american train.

[coolman1558]

@123legodude no it'll prove that locomotives in Britain are pussies with no muscle

[WhopBobbaLuBop]

@mygirl22ward The CSX conversion program was fraught with problems, I don't see any around here any longer (Clifton Forge).

[skinnyshit8888]

it's alive. IT'S ALIVE

[123legodude]

if you bring one of those to Britain and fire it up next to one of they're locos, they will think we are geniuses by how clean they fire up. insted of wasting half the tank firing up a loco over there, that blow black smoke, and they wonder why they have so much smog...tsk tsk tsk

[adrianspeeder]

Oh that is a great video, thanks for sharin!

[cbehr91]

Aren't most of the GP30s laid-up bad order now?