It has been a while since I posted anything railroad related so I took another dive into my archives and found these images that I took about a decade ago at the BNSF yard in La Mirada, California which was one of my favorite train watching spots.
At that time the BNSF facilities in La Mirada was a haven for ex Santa Fe Railroad locomotives that had once been premiere power in main line service before the merger with the Burlington Northern in the 1990s. The BNSF would deploy much larger and powerful locomotives on long-haul freight trains so these smaller units would be reassigned to switching and local freight duties.
It was a joy to be surrounded by such a collection of locomotives still in their original Santa Fe colors. I could imagine for just one afternoon that the good old ATSF was still alive a kicking. Sadly it's becoming harder and harder to find locomotives like this as the years pass. As you would expect older locomotives are retired and replaced by new ones and are either scrapped or sold to other railroads.
I recently discovered one such locomotive here in Eunice, Louisiana. Sadly that locomotive was abandoned by the Acadiana Railroad and is presently rusting away in a field.
Hopefully the rest of these surviving locomotives have received better treatment.
As for these locomotives they still have a important job working around Orange County.
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