Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF train with five 737 fuselages, two test cars late in the day

Using the last sliver of daylight last evening, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, I was able to get some video footage of one of those BNSF shipments involving Boeing 737 fuselages manufactured at a Spirit Aero Systems plant in Wichita, Kan. The fuselages are shipped via the BNSF Railway from Wichita to Renton, Wash., for final assembly.

Thanks to some tipsters yesterday, word was circulating about a shipment of five fuselages and two test cars being on a BNSF Railway train en route in the daylight hours from Wichita to Kansas City. So what happened? The train fell down on time in a big way for unknown reasons. It reached Kansas City in the dark.

After waiting at trackside at Gardner, Kan., about 25 miles southwest of KC, for more than six hours, I was able to shoot some footage on the west side of the city. In this instance, I only had about 5 minutes left to spare for dayligbt to be totally gone. I was shooting video in a terribly low-light situation.

The train finally arrived at my location at 7:58 p.m. (CDST). Things weren't too bad. The nose of the first fuselages was lighted by a rear observation spotlight on one of the test cars. (Fellow railfan bnsfsd70 captured a nice still photo a few blocks away when the train was stopped for a red signal. A "Z" train had to cut in front of the fuselage train at a crossover in the middle of town.)

I've taken numerous photos of the fuselage trains in recent years but this is the first shipment I've seen with test cars coupled in. Also, most of the time, these fuselage trains usually pass through Gardner in late morning or early afternoon. Having some trackside patience yesterday finally paid off.

(Video by Larry Byers, Gardner, KS)

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Spirit is way behind on deliveries for some reason will be playing catch up for a while a post on another net said.

Spirit increased it weekly/monthly production in Wichita early this year, which means more business for BNSF.

JoCoLB Wrote:
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> So what happened? The train fell down on
> time in a big way for unknown reasons. It reached
> Kansas City in the dark.

BNSF happened.

One delay was for an unexpected crew change between Newton and Emporia.

What are the two passenger cars used for.

DH

They are only described to me as company test cars. Unknown exactly what kinds of things are being studied during the long journey for the shipment. Maybe knowledgeable railroaders can break it down.

I am seeing most of these shipments lately with only the fuselages. At one time there were other cars in tow as well. Box cars and or flat cars with a type of angled box on it. I dont know what was in them, just curious why they dont seem to be part of these shipments anymore.

I've noticed that too during the past year or so. Fewer fuselage shipments have a parts car or two attached.

Test cars may be for the guards to ride in to make sure nobody tries to fly one of the fuselages away. upkpfan

JoCoLB Wrote:
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> Spirit increased it weekly/monthly production in
> Wichita early this year, which means more business
> for BNSF.


Well they got behind due to problems unknown right off of the Boeing blog last week. So while it may have increased for a while problems slowed it down for a while.

DHarrison Wrote:

> What are the two passenger cars used for.

BNSF 82 Kootenai River and 83 Canyon Diablo, both over 100 years old, are dynamometer cars sometimes used for testing locomotives. However, they also have sleeping and living quarters aboard which makes them useful as support cars or rider cars when they aren't needed as test cars. The 83 ran as a support car for one of BNSF's bilevel geometry cars for a while.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> BNSF 82 Kootenai River and 83 Canyon Diablo, both
> over 100 years old, are dynamometer cars sometimes
> used for testing locomotives.

It is specified in the System Special Instructions that only four fuselages are to be handled in-train. Boeing can approve more than four at a time. I wonder if this test train is to increase that number to more than four.

MP555 Wrote:
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> It is specified in the System Special Instructions
> that only four fuselages are to be handled
> in-train. Boeing can approve more than four at a
> time. I wonder if this test train is to increase
> that number to more than four.

Two days worth of fuselages ended up on this train. It is the R&D departments' annual joyride to Seattle.