All depended on union agreements. Some jobs still might’ve required an extra brakeman or even two in certain locations. There were still some firemen that held seniority on Amtrak into the 90’s.
BN wasn't the only railroad to experiment with locomotives designed for multi-man crews. Seaboard Coast Line did the same during the Family Lines era. In 1978-79, SCL had ordered 39 B23-7 locomotives from GE. Ten of them (5130-5139) were built with large cabs that took up the entire space where the short hood (nose) would have been. These had the model designation of BQ23-7. All ten would make it onto the CSX roster (3000-3009); they were converted into B units (by having their windows plated over) before ultimately being retired and scrapped by 2001.
Great video!👍😃
All of the trains looked really good especially moving on down the tracks
and the BNSF locomotive in Alabama was really awesome thanks.☕☕☕
🚂🚃🚃🇺🇲
My sons and I drive up there to railfan and have seen them a few times. Love B’ham!
Adore the little caboose!
GP50’s were Interesting and Never heard of a 5-man Crew even when the Caboose was still in Operation. 🤔
All depended on union agreements. Some jobs still might’ve required an extra brakeman or even two in certain locations. There were still some firemen that held seniority on Amtrak into the 90’s.
Five crew members used to be the standard. Engineer, fireman and a brakeman up front, plus the conductor and another brakeman on the rear.
BN wasn't the only railroad to experiment with locomotives designed for multi-man crews. Seaboard Coast Line did the same during the Family Lines era. In 1978-79, SCL had ordered 39 B23-7 locomotives from GE. Ten of them (5130-5139) were built with large cabs that took up the entire space where the short hood (nose) would have been. These had the model designation of BQ23-7. All ten would make it onto the CSX roster (3000-3009); they were converted into B units (by having their windows plated over) before ultimately being retired and scrapped by 2001.
Reminds me a little bit of a CF7!
Wow