“BNA-1” was built in 1952 by Budd for the BN predeceasor CB&Q. Named the “Burlington”, this 85′ stainless steel car was used as their primary business car and complemented their already growing fleet of Budd built passenger cars. With the Merger in 1970 only the ownership changed, it continued to hold the same name, and color scheme, until 1971 when it’s name was changed to “Burlington Northern”. In October of 1973, AMTRAK mandated that all cars being moved in it’s trains(how most business cars were moved), were to be painted in a matching AMTRAK scheme. Because of this, “BNA-1” was painted to match AMTRAK’s PH-III scheme(red & blue between the windows only). In January of ’74, to better reflect the area it served, it’s name was changed for the final time to “Mississippi River”. With Amtrak rescinding their painting mandate of everything matching their color scheme, in March of 1976 it was remodeled and repainted to the standard BN scheme (green & white between the windows). At this time, all movements were to be done in standard freight trains or special movements. In 1982 this car was again remodeled, being changed from steam heat to electric heat, eliminating the expense of using the ex F-unit heater cars. For most of it’s lifetime as the “Mississippi River” this car was typically seen in the Mpls area (aka Northtown). With the arrival of the new SD-70MAC’s in 1994, the color was again changed, from green & white to just cream between the windows “Executive scheme”. This car is still in service.
This car is easy to model in “HO-scale”, just call KATO.
| Car No | Color | Date changed | Location | Formerly | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNA-1 | silver | 03/01/1970 | CB&Q-Burlington | BN-Burlington | |
| BNA-1 | silver | 04/01/1971 | Spokane | BN-Burlington | |
| BNA-1 | silver | 09/01/1971 | BN-Burlington | Burlington Northern | |
| BNA-1 | sil/Amt | 10/01/1973 | Burlington Northern | Burlington Northern | |
| BNA-1 | sil/Amt | 01/01/1974 | Burlington Northern | Mississippi River | |
| BNA-1 | sil/Amt | 03/01/1974 | MplsUD | Mississippi River | |
| BNA-1 | diagram page – 03/01/1976 | ||||
| BNA-1 | sil/wt/gn | 06/01/1980 | Como shops | Mississippi River | |
| BNA-1 | diagram page – 03/01/1982 | ||||
| BNA-1 | sil/wt/gn | 05/01/1983 | 35th Ave | Mississippi River | |
| BNA-1 | sil/wt/gn | 01/01/1988 | Kansas City | Mississippi River | |
| BNA-1 | sil/crm | 07/01/1996 | University | Mississippi River |
