Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Heavy Repair Shop Questions

Good Evening:

Why did BNSF decide to close the West Burlington, IA heavy shop vs Topeka, KS? Did Topeka have a better set up or more capabilities than West Burlington?

Also, can Topeka completely rebuild a locomotive like other shops do, such as the NS facility in Altoona, PA? Do they have a paint shop as well? Are there other shops on BNSF that can rebuild locomotives?

Thank you in advance.

Topeka can pretty much do anything though they run pretty lean on personnel numbers. We carried a monthly
open PO with them, guys would come in and pick up what they needed, list the job number and we never had a
problem with Fort Worth paying the bill or asking stupid questions. Class operation.

Out 

Was always told it was a money thing. Topeka is a newer facility that was more central on the system. West B was capable of anything including practically building from scratch ( give them a frame and they would go from there). Some day Topeka will close as more and more work is out sourced. Just look at all the BNSF power at Albia, Mt. Vernon , Silvis and E.St.Louis.

Posted from iPhone

Q-GP30 Wrote:
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> Was always told it was a money thing. Topeka is a
> newer facility that was more central on the
> system. West B was capable of anything including
> practically building from scratch ( give them a
> frame and they would go from there). Some day
> Topeka will close as more and more work is out
> sourced. Just look at all the BNSF power at Albia,
> Mt. Vernon , Silvis and E.St.Louis.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Having been thru Mt Vernon. NRE, there is actually not alot of BNSF Power here. Get thru the area at least1 time or so each month. I have seen some BNSF Power here, but generally not that many. Can't speak for the other shops tho.   Ben

Was at Albia last week and there was BNSF power of all kinds; SD70MAC’s, Gevo’s, SD40-2’s, GP39’s of all varieties. I remember making a setout on a MEMGAL in St. Louis awhile back with 3 Geeps and a dead GEVO going to Metro East for work.

Posted from iPhone

To ad to the above explanations concerning Topeka vs. West Burlington, the Topeka shop complex also had the full shop capabilities of maintaining the executive/business car fleet. The West Burlington had no such passenger car capabilities.

Looking at the Google satelite map of the West burlington shops, there appears to be two very rusty/brown F-units on the west side. What are/were they?

Roadrailer Wrote:
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> Looking at the Google satelite map of the West
> burlington shops, there appears to be two very
> rusty/brown F-units on the west side. What
> are/were they?

From an older thread. They're F9's and they were the power units for the Rotary plow

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3900070

PRR_4859 Wrote:
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Do they have a paint shop as well?

They'll do minor paint work, like after wreck repairs.  But full repaints following an in-house overhaul are contracted out to RELCO and Mid America Car.  Locomotive overhaul programs are also contracted out to RELCO, NRE, MAC, GE, PRS...

MP555 Wrote:
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> PRR_4859 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Do they have a paint shop as well?
>
> They'll do minor paint work, like after wreck
> repairs.  But full repaints following an in-house
> overhaul are contracted out to RELCO and Mid
> America Car.  Locomotive overhaul programs are
> also contracted out to RELCO, NRE, MAC, GE, PRS...

Does BNSF do any complete overhauls, or is it all contracted out?

PRR_4859 Wrote:
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> Does BNSF do any complete overhauls, or is it all
> contracted out?

Yes, they do a lot of overhauls in-house. It seems that the "fleet"-type upgrade/overhaul programs go to contractors, though.

GP60M-3 program to MotivePower and Progress Rail.
SD60M-3 and SD75M program to Progress Rail.
GP39-3 program to RELCO and NRE.
B40-8W overhauls to GE.

Fleet type overhauls require more employees than the railroads have on hand and they are unwilling to hire and train new employees who will not be needed once the project is over.