Western Railroad Discussion > These are Disappearing Fast:Glendive Diesel Tour

July 7 ,2020 is supposed to be the last day of operation for the BNSF Glendive ,Montana Diesel Service Facility.BNSF and UP and the eastern roads are announcing what seems like daily closure announcements of mechanical facilities.Shown below are a series of images recorded during a tour of the Glendive BNSF Diesel facilty.All pictures are with permission and recorded in 2016 during a happier time in Glendive.I suppose the storm clouds were gathering when we took the tour ,but optimism seemed good.The facility is a mix of old and new with an old Northern Pacific Roundhouse as the main star.The roundhouse had been thoroughly modernized with steel beam reinforcements with  ramps and cranes.The employeees we met were first class and very dedicated to their profession and running the railroad.More to follow. Bill Webb

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Three more from Glendive.Bill Webb

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Last three from the 2016 tour.Bill Webb

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Great series of photos.

Very nice coverage of an area  not often seen.  It is indeed a sad day for these employees  and the townsfolk.. Thanks for sharing.

PWM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/20 18:18 by Quakerengr.

Railroads have been doing boom and bust cycles since about day 1.

I definitely feel bad for the workers at the BNSF Glendive shop for their job losses, however, and this sounds crude, but the writing has been on the wall for awhile now.  BNSF has two major locomotive shops in the Powder River Basin coal fields; Glendive and the much, much larger and newer facility at Alliance NE.  Glendive pretty much handled the locomotive supply for coal trains over the northern lines (ex NP) east to the Great Lakes.  With the huge collapse in coal train traffic, it seems pretty obvious that BNSF didn't need two facilities in the basin any longer, and Alliance is the newer, larger, and more strategic located one, so it was going to be the winner (at least for now as it could be the next victim as well).

Great photos and well organized presentation.
Thanks for the grand tour.
ALLEN