The BNSF Railway put together a very impressive train for a visit to southern California at the end of January and early February. This train was originally going to be powered by three of the railway's 25th Anniversary engines but one, BNSF 5828, got removed and placed on eastbound intermodal train Z-LACALT7-29 on January 29, not long after the train arrived at Los Angeles' Hobart Yard. (Nuts! I hadn't photographed that one yet!) On Tuesday, February 1, the Officer Special departed Thenard, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, to head east. Engineer WJ Stritch got the train moving right on time, and it was a good thing I got trackside a bit early, and this train arrived at my location earlier than expected – they were moving right along at a good pace! The two 25th Anniversary engines, ES44ACs 6017 and 6163 were pulling an impressive-looking 13-car train, consisting of BNSF cars 51 Mt Rainier, 63 Glorieta Pass, 6 Topeka, 67 Trinchera Pass, 4 Missouri River, 60 Stevens Pass, 65 Raton Pass, 64 Marias Pass, 1 Gerald Grinstein, 10 Lake Superior, 11 Fred Harvey, 31 (recently renamed to) Carl R Ice and 32 William B Strong. Well done, BNSF! (Placentia, California – February 1, 2022)
