Steam & Excursion > Jim Schwinkendorf

Jim Schwinkendorf, who was instrumental in BN / BNSF running steam in the 1990s and early 2000s, passed away February 21 at age 81.  Jim assisted in the Frisco 1522 being able to run on the BN and BNSF Employee Appreciation Specials.  He also helped guide the St. Louis Chapter NRHS through the excursions for the NRHS 2001 convention in St. Louis as well as the last trips of the 1522 in 2002.

Jim worked for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, The Milwaukee Road, and the Burlington Northern / BNSF during his career.

His obituary is here:

https://www.schrader.com/obituary/james-alden-jim-schwinkendorf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/25 18:54 by MILW16.

Thanks for letting us know about Mr. Schwinkendorf's passing.  He opened a lot of doors for railroad enthusiasts and many others.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

He did so much to help the 1522's operations.I'm sure Don will have more to say about him. RIP Jim.

Posted from Android

In the early 90's sometime, I got called for a special passenger train from KC (Turner yard) to Topeka and back for dis-advantaged kids. I bought my son along, he must have been 11 or 12. He was going to ride back in the train with the passengers, but I had him up on the engine to look around, when Jim came up to the engine, and boarded. I was squirming a little bit with my son up there, and I introduced him and the conductor. I explained that he was just there looking around, and was going to ride back in the train when we got going, but he said "No, he's fine, he can ride up here with you." So he did, he made the round trip with me and was thrilled to there The only engine we had was a 500 class GE, and we turned it on the wye at Topeka for the trip back to KC.

Jim and Jeff Schmid were both very valuable  assets to the St. Louis Steam Train Association and 1522.
Jim was very knowledgeable on how railroads ran at the time and took care of contracts between us and the BN, later BNSF. He was very active in Operation Lifesaver as was Jeff.
Jeff made sure us engine crew members were right up to snuff on rules and worked with Superintendents along our route to make things go smoothly.
Through the hard work of these two, we enjoyed a great relationship with the railroad.
They will be missed.  Jim was my neighbor and I will miss our chats of railroads and model railroading.