The Flickr Burlingtonnorthernrailroad Image Generatr

A sunny Tuesday in March finds St. Paul & Pacific 1500 contending with motorists on Walker Street in Watsonville while engineer Kevin Hill keeps a light hand on the throttle of the GP15-1. A lone centerbeam released from Big Creek Lumber heads to the Union Pacific yard at Watsonville Junction.

Impaled by steel for decades, Walker Street hosted stubby spurs that fanned out from the main line to various packing sheds and canneries on either side of the roadway. Thousands of carloads of perishables were shipped annually from the Watsonville area as Southern Pacific reaped the benefits of its proximity to the fertile Pajaro and Salinas Valleys. Improved trucking practices sliced into SP's agricultural base beginning in the 1960s and the railroad never fully recovered. Now all that can be seen in the pavement on Walker Street are scars from the past.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 12:09 PM.

Per wreck Milw Rd, BN Amtrak detour. Pilots will return almost immediately on EWD Amtrak now on the bell at St. Croix Tower, Hastings,MN.Being a detour, further instructions and a Form A Clearance were placed in the WWD Q(BN) rack so I was hands free with the camera.

BNSF EMD GP38-2 #2339 is an engine with quite a colorful history right before its retirement (see "Ex-BNSF engineer raises safety concerns, claims wrongful termination" by KING 5 News).

Behind the Interbay Roundhouse lays four locomotive deadlines and three other dead locomotives spread across the facility. Pictured here are the deadlines on the Wykie Spur, track M1, and Track 55.

At the Roundhouse: #2826
Wykie Spur: #2079, #2334, #1513
Track M3: GN #1729, GN #1732, #1664, #340, #2336, #2123, #331
Track M2: BN #12603, #2136 #2133, #2085, #2112
Track 55: #2339, WCRC #202, #326, #1551, #330, #60, GN #3534

GN #1732, on track M3, and BN #12603, on track M2, await their fate outside the Interbay Roundhouse.

GN #1729 & GN #1732 rot as they await their fate on track M2 behind Interbay Roundhouse.

BNSF EMD GP39M #2826 is a rebuilt GP30 originally built for the CBQ as #955, to BN #2232, to BN GP39M #2826

BNSF EMD GP60B #340 BNSF EMD GP38-2 #2336 BNSF EMD GP38AC #2112 BNSF EMD SW1200 #3534

Having been retired about two decades ago and serving as a parts source until BNSF 1551's retirement in 2020, GN (for General Numbering) #1729 and #1732 now sit dead, stripped of most of their parts and copper, awaiting their scrapping, which is rumored to be happening soon in the summer of 2025.

Parked on an adjacent track is BN #12603. This caboose, like the GN #1729, was built for the Great Northern Railway as X108 in August 1967 before going to the Burlington Northern as their #10148. Later, under BNSF ownership, it was converted to a shove platform with its windows and doors welded permanently shut. Due to its location near the shuttered Interbay Roundhouse, it can only be assumed that it too is not long for this world.

GN #1729 is an EMD SD9 built in May of 1956 for the Great Northern Railway as their #583, serial number 21251. It later went to the BN as #6110, eventually becoming BNSF #6110, then #1729, and finally back to GN as the #1729 in retirement.

GN #1732 is also an EMD SD9, built as Colorado & Southern #841. It later became #6236 under the Burlington Northern and then BNSF #6132, before being retied as GN #1732.

GN SD9s #1729 and #1732, stripped of all usable parts after at least two decades of retirement, await scrapping at the of track M2 at Interbay Roundhouse.

BNSF EMD GP60B #340 BNSF EMD GP38-2 #2336 BNSF EMD GP38AC #2112 BNSF EMD SW1200 #3534

BNSF EMD GP60B #340 BNSF EMD GP38-2 #2336 BNSF EMD GP38AC #2112 BNSF EMD SW1200 #3534

BNSF #2085 is rotting away in the declines behind Interbay, its paint peeling away and its internal components strewn across the ballast. #2085 was formerly BN #2085 "Pacific Pride" having been decaled with BN's predecessor's logos across its long hood. Now, however, it sits dead at Interbay, with its paint peeling away revealing its BN heritage.

Behind the Interbay Roundhouse lays four locomotive deadlines and three other dead locomotives spread across the facility. Pictured here are the deadlines on the Wykie Spur, track M1, and Track 55.

At the Roundhouse: #2826
Wykie Spur: #2079, #2334, #1513
Track M3: GN #1729, GN #1732, #1664, #340, #2336, #2123, #331
Track M2: BN #12603, #2136 #2133, #2085, #2112
Track 55: #2339, WCRC #202, #326, #1551, #330, #60, GN #3534

A forlorn GN #1729 and, in the background, WCRC #202 'Freckles' await their fate near Interbay Roundhouse's sand towers.

BNSF EMD GP60B #340 BNSF EMD GP38-2 #2336 BNSF EMD GP38AC #2112 BNSF EMD SW1200 #3534

I almost did not take this shot. I was set up to take a shot as the train got it the curve with the camera that had the short lens on it. I knew that shot like this one would be backlit, but with the train in the curve at least I'd get a little of the side of the 7092 which had thus far alluded me in shooting leading a train.

Then my buddy that U was shooting with mentioned he liked the look of the train coming at him looking through his viewfinder so I grabbed my second camera with the long lens on it and got a few shots. And he was right. I liked the look.

Lancaster and Chester 14 is coming up an incline near Circle S Feed Mill in Bascomville, South Carolina with L&C 7072 on lead. She is an EMD SD40-2 built in 1978 as Burlington Northern (BN) 7092, to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) 7092, to CIT Group/Capital Finance, Inc (CEFX) 7092. Prior to coming t the L&C, Gulf & Ohio Railways had assigned her to the Yadkin Valley Railroad (YVRR).

Lancaster and Chster 14 is coming up an incline near Circle S Feed Mill in Bascomville, South Carolina with L&C 7072 on lead. She is an EMD SD40-2 built in 1978 as Burlington Northern (BN) 7092, to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) 7092, to CIT Group/Capital Finance, Inc (CEFX) 7092. Prior to coming t the L&C, Gulf & Ohio Railways had assigned her to the Yadkin Valley Railroad (YVRR).