Re: Burlington Northern passenger service attitude
Author: Tom McCann
Date: 10-17-2011 - 12:53
As far as I can recall only two of the new company's passenger trains were lost outright between its creation in March 1970 and Amtrak's creation in May 1971.
The first was the through "California Zephyr" between Chicago and the Bay Area, in which the Western Pacific portion was discontinued and the BN and D&RGW segments replaced by tri-weekly service (the BN's "California Service", which became an extension of the existing "Nebraska Zephyr", and the D&RGW's "Rio Grande Zephyr"). The original "CZ" was gone March 22, just three weeks after the creation of BN.
The other was the former CB&Q "Blackhawk", the overnight train between Chicago and the Twin Cities", which was discontinued in April 1970.
As for the company's rolling stock, only a portion of the fleet received BN paint, re-numbering or reporting marks before the cars went to Amtrak, into MofW service, or to other new owners.