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The BN Expediter – January 2024

January 2024 – Volume 32 Number 1

The January 2024 issue (32 pages) contains:

  • Locomotive Chronicles 1990 Followup, by Dave Poplawski
    A photo of the engineer’s console of BN-1, a photo of the first BN train pulled by BN-1 and BN-2, and a copy of BN-1 builder’s plate from the files of the late Don McKenzie.
  • President’s Message
    An report of the state of the FOBNR from president Benjamin Hucker.
  • The FOBNR Freight Cars
    The N scale FBNX cars visited William and Robert Pagel’s N-Trak Module, including photos of the cars at a massive grain elevator based on a Superior, Wisconsin prototype. The HO scale FBNX car visited Gary Weiner’s BN Springfield Division layout, including photos and descriptions of its visit at several locations on his layout.
  • William (Bill) Greenwood, a Retrospective, by Mark Cane
    Bill passed away in September, 2023, and Mark Cane provides a retrospective of Bill’s impressive career starting with his employment by the CB&Q in 1956 as a telegrapher and tower operator through his retirement in 1994 from his position as Chief Operating Officer (COO), as well as his contributions to the industry after that.
  • The Gassman Coulee Trestle: Some “cool” photos from February, 1978, by Carl Lehman
    Photos of trains on the trestle in the dead of the winter, plus some background on the history of the bridge and how operations over it were managed as a single track in the middle of double track territory.
  • BN’s Friday Night Live: Dinky Action, 5:45PM, May 6, 1977, by Glenn Fisher
    A long article about BN’s 3-track main line (the “racetrack”) and the locations and statuses of several dinkies (suburban commuter trains) at a precise point in time. Includes a detailed schematic of the line, switches and signals; the train sheet that pinpoints the trains’ locations, a public timetable applicable to that day, and a few photos of dinkies at various points along the line.
  • Contact Corner: BN and Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad; Operating Rules, Timetable and Special Instructions; Portage to East Dubuque; Sunday, October 26th 1986, by Gary Seymour
    Answering a question about the CCP timetable that BN operated according to over a short segment of BN’s main line between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Includes a brief history of the line and why it was owned by the CCP in the middle of BN’s main line, how it was eventually purchased by BNSF, and of course views of the relevant parts of BN and CCP timetables from the late 1980s.
  • 2013 BNSF Officer Special, by Andy Cassidy
    A report on the visit by the special in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Includes photos of the entire train and each of the three BNSF business cars on the train.
  • BN 997xx Series Taconite Cars
    B&W Builder’s photos of the 4-unit drawbarred cars as they looked just after manufacture, along with some details about their construction and use.

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Contact the editor to contribute:

Dave Poplawski, Editor
The BN Expediter
7733 Copper Corner Drive SE
Caledonia, MI 49316

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