Burlington Northern Finale

Producer: Broken Knuckle Video

Locations: Alliance, Galesburg, Burlington

Timeframe: 1995

Length: 85 minutes

Source: Hal Pantti

Burlington Northern Finale. Midwest Mainlines. The BNSF was created in September, 1995. This was still fresh when Hal Pantti filmed soon after the merger.

A single DVD-R. Fullscreen 4×3 aspect ratio. Hal Pantti has good videography skills. Live environmental audio.

Main chapter menu. On-screen graphics. Maps. A chapter advance. Narrated.

To the Trains… 👉

Yellowstone Division. Starts at Glendive, Montana. BN 9200 fronts an Eastbound Coal train in the yard. This is a former Northern Pacific route.

Leased LMX power heads a pair of BN GE B units 4029 and 4102 hauling mixed freight on the Dickenson subdivision.

Jamestown Sub begins at Mandan, North Dakota. BN 7087 leads the two SD40-2 units on a double-stack.

Galesburg Division. 1st of 2 visits.

BN SD70MAC is wearing executive paint, and it is at Burlington, Iowa.

Oakway power by the hour is next with 9030/ 9017 pulling coal.

BN GP38-2 2368 leads 2961 entering, Creston Iowa.

Amtrak California Zephyr arrival at Creston Station.

Pacific Junction on the return trip. Three GE C30-7 engines head east. BN 5533 on the head end with coal.

BN 1525 leads a trio of locomotives as they leave Burlington Yard. This is along the Mississippi River. He references the Ottumwa sub and Hannibal sub tracks. Need a map here. Looking at a Google map, I guess this is Burlington, Iowa. Big omission when I have to make a best guess! Gladstone, Illinois is what follows. Burlington it seems to be.

Burlington Northern Finale

This contains some of the last of what still appears to be Burlington Northern in operation. The late BN paint schemes drifted further away from the standard BN green and black. Which was perfectly fine to begin with. Santa Fe has cameo appearances.

Videography is generally fine. Some scenes are obstructed, like Ottuma, and don’t work well. There are many minor flaws from the source tapes.

Soundtrack is live audio. Sometimes, there is too much with the crossing bells. Loud and annoying. Narration is balanced.

Although the subdivisions and converging routes are frequently mentioned. It becomes informational overload. Maps are needed for clarity. In fact, near the end. What town is along the Mississippi River?

Viewers do get plenty of Burlington Northern equipment to see. So, it stands up as a finale. The show does contain plenty of good footage to be worthwhile.

Rating: 4 Stars