MY PHOTO GALLERY OF TRAINS
RAILROADS
OF THE WEST PAGE 10
BNSF TRAINS AT CURTIS HILL
Santa Fe 149 west passes the three mile long curve between Belva and Heman. Santa Fe 888 east passes the signals and the road crossing over the tracks at milepost 359 near the town of Qinlan, Oklahoma on June 25th 1998 (LEFT). SF 888 is a Dash 8-40CW. SF 5378 east passes Quinlan on the same day (RIGHT). Quinlan is two or three miles east of the famous "Curtis Hill" on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Panhandle subdivision. This is the former Santa Fe Chicago to LA mainline. The grade to Curtis Hill starts at Belva and gets steep at milepost 359. By the time the westbounds get to Quinlin they are struggling to sustain 15-20mph and the locomotives are roaring up a storm. This is a very impressing show. The eastbounds have a slight grade at Curtis before reaching the top. The eastbounds do about 45mph between Curtis and Belva. The double track was added several years ago. The sidings were from the east: Heman, Belva, Quinlan, and Curtis. From Heman to Mooreland the sidings was connected to make double track. Photos by Eric Burris.
Santa Fe 655 east moves at a swift 45 mph downhill at a road bridge west of Quinlan. Shortly afterwards a westbound growls and howls upgrade making only 10-15mph. BNSF 6801 (SD40-2), EMD 789 (GP38), and SF 5513 (SD45-2B) lead the train uphill. Pictures of this train will eventually be scanned and posted. Photos by Eric Burris
BNSF 721 west works hard uphill at the same location pulling truck trailers on this intermodel train on June 26th 1998. The well done Swift trailers look nice on piggyback trains. Photos by Eric Burris.
BNSF 134 west also roars past the same location on the same day as above. BNSF 134 and SF 161, and SF 123 ? are GP60Ms. The former Santa Fe was the only railroad to have GP60Ms. It's great to watch the GP60Ms pull intermodel trains across the Kansas Flinthills at a racing 70mph.
Photos by Eric Burris.
BNSF 764 east approaches Heman, OK at about 45 mph. Note the volcano-like hill in the background. At the three-mile curve BNSF 4755 east rushes by. 4755 is a new Dash 9-44CW purchased by BNSF and painted in the newest paint scheme called the Heritage 2. It is known to railfans as the "warpumpkins".
