BNSF Railfanning Amarillo

Almost every train, (especially Q-Trains) that passes through Amarillo make a stop for a crew change. This train for some reason did not.

Amarillo's BNSF South Yard is a very busy classification yard. Bypassing the yard on the west side is the BNSF Transcon with three mainlines. This video highlights a typical evening just before sunset as BNSF double stacks, manifest freights and remote-control yard switching takes place all at once. With almost every train coming on the Transcon making a crew change at Amarillo's BNSF Depot, the railroad action is non-stop.

BNSF Transcon Up-Close and North Yard Power Move.

Amarillo's BNSF Depot on the Transcon (Santa Fe's old Junior Tower and Yard Office) is very busy. In a 40-minute period our cameras captured four BNSF Intermodal Freights and one BNSF Mixed Freight. All five trains stopped at Junior for a crew change and then proceed on their way. The Junior Tower location in Amarillo is a difficult area to film trains. This is due to the fact that the camera operator must position his camera either on BNSF property, (a huge no-no) private property or city streets. Fortunately, we have permission to shoot from private property located relatively close to the tower, giving us a unique opportunity to safely film without trespassing. Amarillo is a central location on the BNSF Transcon and a very convenient place for crews to end and start their 12-hour shift. In the old days of the AT&SF Railway, this location was a Yardmaster Office. Check back often as we use this location to bring our viewers a unique view of one of the hottest BNSF Transcon locations in the nation.

Just how busy is Amarillo's BNSF Depot where almost every train has a crew change? Very busy, with up to three trains at a time stopped at the depot. Amarillo is a central location on the BNSF Transcon and a very convenient place for crews to end and start their 12-hour shift. In the old days of the AT&SF Railway, this location was a Yardmaster Office. In this video you will see photos of the old Yardmaster's Office as well as a photo of the interior. This video is the best way to visit this location because access to the site by car is difficult. One of the trains departing from this location has over 200 cars and six locomotives. Don't miss the exciting action of one of the hottest BNSF Transcon locations in the nation.

Remote Control Switchers BNSF GP39-3 # 2680 and GP28-2 #1501, come out of North Yard with a string of tank cars. They cross Tyler Street and start sorting out the tank cars.

A BNSF Unit Grain Train, over a mile long, sits at a signal at E. 3rd Ave and Eastern St in Amarillo, waiting for its crew to arrive. We watch the engineer and conductor arrive, board the train, check over the locomotive and a few of the lead cars before getting clearance to depart west on the Red River Valley Subdivision. They proceed westbound to the signal at Bull Road where the dispatcher holds them for the Transcon to clear up in downtown Amarillo. After a few double stack trains depart Amarillo eastbound on the Transcon, the Unit Grain train with CSX #714 on the point, comes onto the Transcon after leaving the Bull Road location. The Unit Grain with CSX 714 passes by our camera again, this time showing the other side of the train as it departs Amarillo South Yard on the "Santa Fe" main of the Transcon.

A Norfolk Southern container train westbound into Amarillo's South Yard does not stop for a crew change. Most Transcon trains running through Amarillo stop for a crew change.

BNSF Unit Auto Rack Train running from Alliance Texas to Amarillo Texas cannot complete all of their assignments because they run out of work hours after arriving in Amarillo. The crew arrives in Amarillo just fine, but before they can remove their power from the train and take the power to the engine facility, they run out of hours, which is known as Dead-on-the-Law.

While waiting for a Red & Silver Ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet to be removed from the point of a Geo Train, we watch an assortment of yard activities. Track side in Amarillo is deep with standing water due to seven inch of rain in the past two weeks. Soon, ex-Santa Fe C44-9W #717 is removed from GEO Train and comes into our view in Amarillo's South Yard. We follow 717 to North Yard where it is placed on a siding. Sitting on a siding in North Yard is a short train with two BNSF Diesel locomotives, followed by two FRA Geometry Cars., units DOTX 123 and DOTX 219. These cars are very rarely seen in Amarillo even though they travel 30,000 miles per year on the nation's railroads. We meet up with 717 again, and yet another Red & Silver Warbonnet BNSF 676 is coupled to BNSF 1016. These two units move towards 717 and couple into a three-units-consist. Don't miss the exciting and rare railroading action of the Warbonnets and FRA cars in downtown Amarillo.

While trying to catch a special train on video I found the mainlines in Amarillo completely clogged with double stacks. I found out that the special train's second motor caught fire north of Amarillo and would be delayed. After the mainline congestion eased, I found lots of switching activity in both of Amarillo's railyards. In the North Yard I found three pairs of switching locomotives, two of them remote, working the yard.

Amarillo is a division point on the BNSF Railway and consequently most trains coming through stop for a crew change. We have set our camera at a location that allows us to bring you the action as trains round the last curve by the old Santa Fe Depot in downtown Amarillo. As the trains round the curve, which has a speed limit of 30 mph, they immediately start braking for the crew change point ahead at Junior. Junior is a railroad observation tower (now obsolete) located just north of the I-40 overpass. Also located next to the tower is a yard office where the Trainmaster works. It is a great place to change crews, pick up new orders etc. Junior tower and office is seen in some of our other videos so keep that in mind if you want to take a look at it. This video highlights a unit coal train arriving in Amarillo, while several other trains come and go. Meanwhile, the Remote-Control switchers work hard in South Yard pulling out long strings of cars to build new trains.

On the BNSF Transcon just south of Amarillo Texas we caught six trains in less than an hour. One of the BNSF trains had a Canadian Pacific helper, #8892. You will see Stack, Mixed Freight, AutoRacks, Grain and one train had all forms of intermodal: double stack, single stack, TOFC and COFC.

We spent about 2-hours one evening between 22:30 and 00:30 just to see how busy the line through Amarillo was at that time of night. We were quite surprised how many trains came by.

Train#1 is BNSF westbound military train loaded with various military vehicles and equipment. It is departing Amarillo at high speed on the Dalhart subdivision. We have cameras on both sides of this train as it goes by. Train #2 is the local 204 Job shoving its entire train into a classification track at the BNSF North Yard in Amarillo where the power ties up at the yard office. The brakeman rides the last car as the train is placed into the classification yard. The power on this train is two C44-9W BNSF locomotives in the red & silver Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme. These locomotives were acquired in the BNSF/ATSF merger in 1995 but have never been repainted. They have "BNSF" stenciled on the side of the cabs and the locomotives are very faded and worn looking, but they run strong, and the exhaust looks very clean. Train #3 is a westbound double stack coming into downtown Amarillo's South Yard for a crew change. As he comes into view another double stack on the next Transcon mainline is already rolling west after a its change.

Northfork Southern Railroad Heritage Locomotives are locomotives that have been painted in an honorary paint scheme of a now-defunct railroad that merged with or were acquired by the Norfolk Southern. NS Heritage Locomotive #1070 honors the history and heritage of the Wabash Railroad. It is one of 20 SD70ACe locomotives that received heritage paint schemes that were acquired or merged with Northfork Southern. In this video you will see NS 1070 on the point of a BNSF Double Stack train leaving Amarillo Texas. At the time of its departure, all four mainlines of the Transcon in the Amarillo vicinity were filled. Not only filled, but other trains were waiting on the outskirts of Amarillo at red blocks until the congestion could be cleared up. We have other Heritage locomotives featured in our video collection.

BNSF Remote Controlled Switching crews kick cars in Amarillo's North Yard and the Crosstown Transfer has rarely scene power for Amarillo and three BNSF Fire Fighting Tankers on the rear.

Exciting BNSF Railway Transcon mainline and switching action from trackside at Amarillo's North Yard February 27, 2023.

The BNSF Railway Transcon was very busy on March 3, 2023. Even a priority intermodal freight was stopped on the mainline six miles east of Panhandle Texas. Later in the South Yard of Amarillo, we caught up with the BNSF Intermodal train that had been stopped in Panhandle and another high priority intermodal train stopped for a crew change, while two switchers kicked cars in the yard to make up a new train.

The BNSF Stainless Steel passenger consist that departed Amarillo on February 22, 2023, has returned! On March 8, 2023, the Office Car Special came back to Amarillo and stopped at Junior Tower for a crew change. It then continued East for Topeka on the BNSF Transcon. See it at Amarillo's Junior Tower and then depart for Topeka Kansas via the BNSF Transcon.

The BNSF Heritage Locomotives have a special paint scheme to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the BN/SF merger . Only ten locomotives have this special paint scheme. On March 9, 2023, BNSF Heritage Locomotive #6017 arrived in Amarillo on the point of a Q-train. It stopped at Junior Tower for a crew change and then continued west. While waiting for 6017 to arrive, there was plenty of BNSF action on the mainline in Amarillo's South Yard. See BNSF Heritage Fleet Locomotive 6017 at Amarillo's Junior Tower and watch it depart westbound as it continues its journey west.

The East Local leaves Amarillo for Waynoka, where it lays over, then returns the next day. We pick up the East Local after arriving back in Amarillo, at the junction of the Boice City line and the Transcon. On the point of the train is BNSF SD60M 1437 with C44-9W 651, still in red and silver warbonnet colors.

Remote Control Locomotives work classifying freight cars in South Yard as a BNSF Transcon Double Stack comes in for a crew change on the mainline.

Coal trains routinely run through Amarillo on the Red River Valley Subdivision. The coal trains originate in the Powder River Basin coal mines and come through Amarillo on their way to the Gulf Coast. They typically stop for fuel at Amarillo's 3rd Street Fuel Facility before proceeding to the Gulf Coast, where they dump the coal at one of several power plants. This video highlights a pre-departure inspection worker blue-flagging a coal train and inspecting the locomotives and all coal cars. Once a train has been blue flagged, no one is allowed to move the trains until the original person that installed the blue flag removes it.

Coal trains routinely run through Amarillo on the Transcon. The coal trains originate in the Powder River Basin coal mines and come through Amarillo on their way to the Gulf Coast or points in the southwestern United States such as Arizona. They typically stop for a crew change at Amarillo's Junior Tower before proceeding west, where they dump the coal at one of several power plants. This video highlights a 124-car coal train arriving in Amarillo's South Yard with a 25th Anniversary Heritage Locomotive on the point. The actions was filmed in the late afternoon and the sun was getting very low making a beautiful scene for the coal train to arrive and depart in.