Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF C44-9W No. 4997

Celebrating 21.5 years of near continuous service across the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway system (and beyond). I present to you, BNSF C44-9W #4997, recorded at Hobart Yard, Los Angeles, CA June 29, 2020.

Side question, how many of you are still driving around your January 1999 era vehicles?


Mr. MRL ~ fan safely

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JUNK

Posted from iPhone

I'm betting that red bonnet a/c unit is older.

Dave in Msla

What's the cord behind the conductor side running from the trucks to the top of the cab?   Looks a little janky-rigged...

Arguably the best DC locomotive built since the SD40-2.  I am not a railroader but my late Wife was and I have friends who were and are. Some are locomotive engineers. They agree the C44-9W is a great locomotive. Some guy above said they are"junk". We all are entitled to our opinions. GE has been number one in building locomotives since the mid 1980's for several reasons.

SantaFeRuss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/20 07:39 by SantaFeRuss.

Yeah they were good but they’re garbage now.

Posted from iPhone

Im still driving my 2001 chevy Silverado. Not a 1999 but close.
My brother still has his 1987 full size Chevy Blazer.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/20 08:50 by needles_sub.

sp8192 Wrote:
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> What's the cord behind the conductor side running
> from the trucks to the top of the cab?   Looks a
> little janky-rigged...

No clue what they were testing, but one of the wires from axle 1 was broken and dragging on the ground a bit.

~ Mr. MRL

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While I've replaced my 1996 4Runner with a 2018 model, my son still drives the '96 to work and school.  278,500 miles and still rolling.

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

sp8192 Wrote:
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> What's the cord behind the conductor side running
> from the trucks to the top of the cab?   Looks a
> little janky-rigged...

This unit has sensors attached to the traction motors to help calibrate new wayside thermal detectors. Some fancy new technology they seem to be testing out in Cali presently.

They might have been good when they were new but 99.9% of them are uncomfortable, slow loading rattletraps now. I'd almost rather have a C4 leader...

We have engines on our network running class one trains at 90mph that are three times older than this.

Rugby
UK

And seeing as you're on, Robbie, I may as well ask a modelling question. Much like my previous questions, are the current run of 43-4500 series Scaletrains BNSF -9's cosmetically accurate for renumbering to any running number?

Rugby
UK

We need video of that!

37176 Wrote:
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> We have engines on our network running class one
> trains at 90mph that are three times older than
> this.
>
> Rugby
> UK

An SD70MAC would better represent the BNSF since they bought a ton of those first after the merger.

Posted from Android

I like them on 4.0 hpt + trains!

Posted from Android

*Sad non transcon noises*

Hookdragkick Wrote:
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> I like them on 4.0 hpt + trains!
>
> Posted from Android

Posted from iPhone

I am! 1999 Ford Ranger. Just rolled over 92k miles. Yes just 92,000.

Posted from iPhone

And follow up question with what 37176 mentioned, I thought the 4772-4999 units lease was up and BNSF had stored most/all of those units. Wonder if a leasing company will pick them up, paint them, and lease them out to short lines/regionals around. 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

Ok folks...there is a HUGE difference between your vehicle and a loco..??!!
Generally speaking, your vehicle isn't being worked to death the way a modern loco is.

I'm also not a huge fan of the Dash 9s. They are very much worn out...

For the record though, I do have a vehicle that has 140,000 miles on it. I just had a tune up done on it.

Posted from Android

mcdeo Wrote:
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> I thought the 4772-4999 units lease was up and
> BNSF had stored most/all of those units.

Returned were BNSF 4772-4861, 4866-4878, and 4881-4978.