Western Railroad Discussion > Amtk Art Special & BNSF O-Train in Topeka today

Hey there,
After work this afternoon, I ran down to the Topeka depot to catch the (thankfully) late-running Station-to-Station Art train rolling west down the Topeka Sub. The BNSF was running a number of eastbounds on the line, offering a rare sight of bi-directional running on this piece of railroad. I had no idea that the O-train would be running today, and it came out soon after the Art train, making for a nice afternoon of passenger train watching in the Sunflower state. While here, I was able to run into a number of other local railfans who were braving the damp conditions to photograph the obscure.


Photo 1: The Station to Station train's nine car consist passes the ex-Santa Fe depot in Topeka behind the Amtrak #201. Its not every day that you get to see Milwaukee Road varnish rolling down these rails. I did get pictures of each of these cars in case you want to see any of them. More info on this train can be found here: http://makeourmark.levi.com/?camp=DRSearch:BRANDSTS&K_AFFCODE=307#~ohET9iIjKFD0ef

The cars that the train is rolling by are BNSF's 100-year-old test cars the Canyon Diablo and Kootenai River, and the O-train's headlight can be seen in the background at the shops. The test cars had just been set out on this track by the GP39-3's adjacent to them. Unfortunately, I showed up too late to photograph that move.

Photo 2-3: The "bonus" passenger train of the day was this BNSF Office train heading west behind the BNSF 5422, though I am unsure of it's destination. In photo 2, it is seen pulling out of the business car shops on the Atchison Main at 4th St., while it is seen meeting an arriving eastbound at 10th St. in photo 3. Its consist was as follows:

Snoqualmie Pass
Bay View
Powder River
Colorado River
Santa Fe

Hopefully someone here can provide more info on this train's destination, and heck, the way this day's going, I might as well stick around to shoot #3 later tonight.

Thanks for looking,
Jeff Carlson



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/13 19:34 by bnsfsd70.

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The O train is the O TOPLAU 1-16A.
Charlie
MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

nikon1 Wrote:
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> The O train is the O TOPLAU 1-16A.
> Charlie
> MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub


Thanks! Any of those shots from Pauline you care to post?

- Jeff

Posted mine as a meets Monday
Charlie
MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

bnsfsd70 Wrote:
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> Hey there,
> After work this afternoon, I ran down to the
> Topeka depot to catch the (thankfully)
> late-running Station-to-Station Art train rolling
> west down the Topeka Sub. The BNSF was running a
> number of eastbounds on the line, offering a rare
> sight of bi-directional running on this piece of
> railroad. I had no idea that the O-train would be
> running today, and it came out soon after the Art
> train, making for a nice afternoon of passenger
> train watching in the Sunflower state. While
> here, I was able to run into a number of other
> local railfans who were braving the damp
> conditions to photograph the obscure.
>
>
> Photo 1: The Station to Station train's nine car
> consist passes the ex-Santa Fe depot in Topeka
> behind the Amtrak #201. Its not every day that
> you get to see Milwaukee Road varnish rolling down
> these rails. I did get pictures of each of these
> cars in case you want to see any of them. More
> info on this train can be found here:
> http://makeourmark.levi.com/?camp=DRSearch:BRANDST
> S&K_AFFCODE=307#~ohET9iIjKFD0ef
>
> The cars that the train is rolling by are BNSF's
> 100-year-old test cars the Canyon Diablo and
> Kootenai River, and the O-train's headlight can be
> seen in the background at the shops. The test
> cars had just been set out on this track by the
> GP39-3's adjacent to them. Unfortunately, I
> showed up too late to photograph that move.
>
> Photo 2-3: The "bonus" passenger train of the day
> was this BNSF Office train heading west behind the
> BNSF 5422, though I am unsure of it's destination.
> In photo 2, it is seen pulling out of the
> business car shops on the Atchison Main at 4th
> St., while it is seen meeting an arriving
> eastbound at 10th St. in photo 3. Its consist was
> as follows:
>
> Snoqualmie Pass
> Bay View
> Powder River
> Colorado River
> Santa Fe
>
> Hopefully someone here can provide more info on
> this train's destination, and heck, the way this
> day's going, I might as well stick around to shoot
> #3 later tonight.
>
> Thanks for looking,
> Jeff Carlson


In the first photo,on the right. I see two Passengers in MOW Colors.
What are they used for? I see the one car with windows on the end.
Like its an inspection car. Do you have a better shot of these cars?

Does anyone know what is the history of these cars?

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Here are a couple of more shots.

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mp51w, thanks for those pics.

Regarding the cars themselves, do a search here and you can find all of the background on them. However, to be concise, I'll tell you that the Canyon Diablo is ex-ATSF, while the Kootenai River is ex-Frisco. I believe one is 99 years old, while the other is 101. Crazy!

- Jeff Carlson

In picture one way back by the shop looking area is that silver car an ex-CBQ dome?

MarcelineSub Wrote:
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> In picture one way back by the shop looking area
> is that silver car an ex-CBQ dome?

It sure is, the square-ended dome-obs "Silver Veranda." I absolutely can't wait until this car is rebuilt for service in the business car fleet. Given their history, there's not nearly enough Burlington influence in the fleet, with just one car still plying the rails for the BNSF.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2898953,page=1

Thanks for looking,
- Jeff Carlson