GNgoat wrote: "BNSF 1600 is parked outside at CEECO tonite when I drove by. You can see the cab, the rest of it missing. What is so special about this unit?"
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This sounds like it is headed toward becoming a "Green Goat" or a "RailPower" unit. Too bad; it should be preserved.

To summarize BNSF 1600 chronologically:
-early 1954 - delivered as NP 202 as part of their first order of GP9s.
assigned to Camas Prairie RR in Lewiston ID as one of their first diesels
-3/2/1970 BN merger. 202 becomes BN 1702 and eventually is painted cascade green. Still assigned to Camas Prairie in Lewiston ID
-1975 1702 hits a rockslide, goes into the Clearwater river and burns. Effectively totaled
-1975-1976 becomes a "time available" rebuild project for former GN Hillyard diesel shop in Spokane WA. It is the last big rebuild project done at Hillyard before this shop closes. Touted by BN as "better than new" and shown in a couple of PR events.
-mid 1980s. Assigned to Interbay shops in Seattle along with everything else formerly assigned to either Parkwater or Hillyard - both shops in Spokane
-2000? Painted H1 at Topeka?? and becomes BNSF 1600. Seen in the midwest and California. Eventually returns to Interbay base. Visits Spokane and Pasco on occasion.

One could argue that the above is nothing really special, but it is a rather interesting and varied history for one unit. It worked along with regular service steam power. I photographed it myself in Lewiston in 1954.