BNSF 1551 - SD9 at Balmer Yard

I'm pretty sure that isn't the cab this veteran was built with back in the mid-1950s, but any day you can see a locomotive of this age running around Balmer Yard is a treat.

Here's a link to a blog post I did about how many numbers this engine has been given over the last nearly 40 years:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/wetrails/archives/170077.asp

There's also a video highlighting that awesome non-turbo sound of an old diesel. Enjoy!

Photo - Graffiti On A Hopper

Taken at Interbay, with my lens sticking through a fence! While I don't condone defacing private property, I have to admit this is perhaps one of the most stunning graffiti jobs I've ever seen.

SD9 In The Deadline

It's a slow news week for trains if you live in Washington. If this was a blog about California railroading we would be discussing a BNSF grant given to a San Bernardino organization or a spill of some sort outside Barstow. But we're here...waiting...

In light of this I've decided to dig into the wayback files and pull out this photo of an SD9 in what appears to be the deadline at the Interbay yard. Built in 1957 as #438 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CBQ), 6185 survived at least until 2004 when this photo was taken.

What happened to it after that is anybody's guess; I find no records or pictures on the Internet more recent than this one. Possibly scrapped? The road number 6185, however, is again in use on the BNSF - this time as an ES44AC.