Arguably the BEST diesel locomotive ever produced, we thought that the SD40-2 would solder on forever. But disappear they did, and rather quickly to boot! I haven't seen any on the BNSF in the Spokane area for several months, with the exception of the 7057 which has been fitted with RCL and often works as a switcher at Yardley.

Imagine our surprise last evening (5/30/2009) about 10:30 PM when an eastbound MPASKCK train showed up at Havana St with BNSF 2907(BN green), 2840 (fresh H3), 6703 (BN green), and 6812 (H1) as the power! Two GP30M’s, two SD40-2’s, and NO GE’s! Pure EMD 645 and 567 power. Steve (Koberstein) and I drove east to Park Rd to grove on the sounds as they went from idle to run 8 after meeting a westbound.

I had just arrived at home about 12:30 am when Steve called to say that this power would be returning west on a KCKPAS train and they were just leaving Hauser yard. As I live along the BNSF mainline just west of the Idaho state line, I stood out on my deck to take in the sounds of this power, now with the two SD40-2’s leading. On a last minute impulse I grabbed my Sony ICD-SX57 recorder to capture the sounds. They had a yellow signal at Harvard Rd so were hard on the dynamic brakes as they passed.

I then thought that it might be a good idea to go west and try for some recordings as they climb out of the Spokane valley on the ascending grade of the ex SP&S line. How many more chances might I have to record two SD40-2’s in BNSF mainline service? More phone calls to Steve as we arranged a rendezvous point and hope to beat the train to the wooden bridge that goes over the tracks between Latah Jct and Overlook.

We linked up, consolidated into my car, and headed for the bridge. Its now about 2 am and deadly still. No train sounds and the scanner is even quiet. Only a barking dog at a nearby residence. After about 10 minutes Steve says, “this place really creeps me out” so we decided return to his car and he will drive east looking for the train while I will stick close to the tracks in the vicinity of Thorp road in case the train shows. After driving around that area for a few minutes, I decide that this isn’t really a good location for recording. About then the phone rings (cell phones can be handy) and Steve reports that “they are going through Latah Jct RIGHT NOW!”. I head back to the wooden bridge, faster than I probably should have driven, and as I pull up I can see the headlight approaching. Still I manage to get about 2m10s of decent recording.

Next I hustle off to Marshall to record from the bridge over the tracks. The nice thing about doing this in the wee hours of the night is that there is no traffic. One car is ahead of me and, sure enough, it is Steve. 2m21 sec of recording here, but our train is throttling down as he has a yellow approach signal for Lakeside Jct.

I decide that the Anderson Rd crossing, about a mile west of Cheney, should be a good place to record as he should still be working hard on the grade. An eastbound is passing as we drive up. Our westbound is next and I was not disappointed as I got 8m26s of excellent recording. At 2:50 AM it is again dark and quiet. This time the barking dog is a good distance away from us.

I have edited the recording down to 8m40s, but all the good stuff is still in it. Here is a link:

BNSF SD40-2's climb out of Spokane westbound

Here is a listing of what is on this recording:

00:00 - In dynamic braking at Otis Orchards (12:54am)
00:39 - Whistling for Harvard Rd
01:26 - at the wooden bridge between Latah Jct and Overlook (02:10am)
02:55 - from the bridge at Marshall, yellow approach block (02:21am)
04:37 - wide open, approaching Anderson Rd (02:49am)
07:41 - the train rattles on by at about 20 mph
07:54 - whistling for the Pine Street crossing in Cheney
08:40 - recording ends

Enjoy!

Bruce Butler
Spokane, WA