Western Railroad Discussion > 25th Anniversary, FXE, Pink Hopper, and EMDs on Local

I received a heads-up yesterday afternoon that a 25th anniversary unit was leading BNSF mixed freight train GALLIN from Galesburg, Illinois to Lincoln, Nebraska.  I ended up catching three trains in less than half an hour all at Agency, Iowa.

Train 1: GALLIN
BNSF 6111 ES44AC 25th anniversary unit
BNSF 9359 SD70ACe
BNSF 5682 AC4400CW

The GALLIN came through town not long after six o'clock in the afternoon.  This is the fourth time I've caught one of BNSF's anniversary units and the second one overall.  The person that gave me the heads-up on this train also alerted me that the local had reached Ottumwa, so I stuck around for that train.  However, just eight minutes after the GALLIN left, another westbound appeared on the horizon.

Train 2:
BNSF 5031 C44-9W
FXE 4088 SD70ACe
BNSF 7003 ES44C4

I don't know the symbol on this one, but my first guess would be that this was a loaded sand train.  Behind the Dash 9 leading was an ACe from Ferromex.  Not too far into the train, there's the covered hopper HWCX 7993 in all pink paint..

Train 3: L-CHI664
BNSF 1680 SD40-2
BNSF 2369 GP38-2
HLCX 1058 GP38-3
HLCX 3891 GP38-2

Five minutes later, the local showed up heading eastward.  It was pulled by a quartet of standard cabs EMDs making a bit of noise as they topped the grade here.  A BNSF SD40 and an H1 Geep led a pair of leased Geeps.  Note the sun came out a little for the one eastbound I caught this evening.  644 happened to be made almost entirely of tank cars on this day.  Just one covered hopper made an exception.

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Good job on the Haliburton pink hopper.I have seen the odd one on the LaPlata cam on Frac sand trains.Think there are a dozen or so painted in that colour.
Regards,DK

Wonder how those two units on GALLIN ever made it up the hill out of Burlington???

Nice catches! That loaded "frac" sand unit train arrived here in Fort Collins, CO, yesterday (4/22/2021), in a 2x2 configuration (to help get up grades) and is bound for the Halliburton Sand Plant in Windsor, CO, for unloading. We have been receiving ~2-4 sand trains per week that originate mostly from Wisconsin. 

cabman Wrote:
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> Wonder how those two units on GALLIN ever made it
> up the hill out of Burlington???

I see three units.