Western Railroad Discussion > Are there more BNSF safety plates in the set?

I was given a set of 3 BNSF Safety awards plates the other day. They run from 2002 through 2004. My question, were there more before or after these 3? I am adding pictures of the reverse side as well. Thank you in advance for you help.
later...Wes

Wes Chiles
Topeka, KS

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Here are the reverse sides.

Wes Chiles
Topeka, KS

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LOTS more. I'm not sure when the program started, by I hired out in 2004 and it's still going now.

-Tom

Started by Santa Fe in 1994, and continued every year since. Some years the plates featured paintings primarily from former Santa Fe and Great Northern archives featuring Native American or western scenes (many of which used to be featured on calendars of those railroads). Some years such as the ones pictured in the original post were old photographs of trains. More recent plates are modern train photos such as you might see on the calendar. The last two or three years employees have been given a choice of a modern train photo or a painting from the corporate archives. So yes, there are more than 20 plates out there. I see them a lot in antique stores and train shows.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 17:01 by czephyr17.

I throw mine up in the attic, maybe in 50 years they'll end up on the Antiques Road Show

I have fourteen, missing one for some reason? They were very dissapointing TO ME as it took YEARS before one finally was railroad related and since only a few have been. Probably will never be worth anything.
JB

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> I have fourteen, missing one for some reason? They
> were very dissapointing TO ME as it took YEARS
> before one finally was railroad related and since
> only a few have been. Probably will never be worth
> anything.
> JB

Many employees saw it the same way, which is why they changed to plates with train photos. However the paintings were VERY MUCH railroad related in that they were commissioned by the railroads (mostly ATSF and GN) in the late 1800's and early 1900's by painters to illustrate the scenic views and also native American populations in the west that passengers from the east coast or overseas could experience riding their trains. Some were painted by artists who would later become famous for their works, such as Thomas Moran. In some cases, the railroad offered young artists free transportation from the east coast in return for paintings. These were large paintings that hung in passenger depots across the country. Most of them hang in the visitor's center and hallways of BNSF's headquarters today, along with cases of railroad china, Jim Hill's rolltop desk, a velocipede, stewardess-nurse uniforms, passenger timetables, and numerous other artifacts. Both Santa Fe and GN also used some of the paintings as calendar photos in the mid-1900s.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 21:11 by czephyr17.

I took my pension in 2011 and I have 17 in all. Unfortunately the last six are just photos of seen-one-seen-'em-all orange and green GE locomotives.

1995-2000 plates I received when I was with the BNSF were plates with wagons trains, and other art that didn't even show railroad. I would have liked something railroad related.

The last two posts illustrate the problem they have had in coming up with an award that would please the most people, which is why the past two or three years they have started offering a choice of plates (artwork vs. trains), or optionally a number of other "consumer" type goods.