Boeing 737 fuselages on a BNSF train in the West Bottoms of KC.
On Memorial Day Weekend in 2007, I was in Kansas City, Missouri, visiting friends. While visiting, one of my friends and I ventured out to the West Bottoms of Kansas City for a photography outing. There we happened upon a northbound BNSF train hauling newly built Boeing 737 fuselages.
The Boeing 737 fuselages
Looking south toward the 12th Street viaduct, as the Boeing train rolls north through the West Bottoms. |
Route of the fuselages
BNSF uses specially modified flatcars, like the ones seen in the photographs here, to haul the fuselages to Boeing's assembly plant at Renton, Washington, just to the south of Seattle, Washington. According to an article at Railway Age (Internet Archive link), Boeing has been shipping and receiving airplane components by rail since the 1960s. A typical route from Wichita, Kansas, to Renton, Washington, is via Newton, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; Alliance, Nebraska; Gillette, Wyoming; Laurel, Montana; Missoula, Montana; Sandpoint, Idaho; Spokane, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The portion of this route from Laurel, Montana, to Sandpoint, Idaho, is over Montana Rail Link (MRL). This route is not set in stone and the fuselages have taken different routes in the past. The length of the route is about 1,800 miles.
A B737-700 NG fuselage sits on a modified flatcar, as the train passes a southbound coal train, while an empty coal train waits to go north in the background. |
The green color
Photographs taken on May 30, 2007, at Kansas City, MO.
Interesting !!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim. Glad you found it interesting!
DeleteThat is really interesting info! Neat pics as well. Newton is not far from me, it would have been cool to see these in person.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, in the near future you can manage to capture one of these trains. If you are ever at Wichita, you can see a small yard at Southeast Blvd. and E MacArthur Rd., where some of the rail cars are kept. Here's a Google Maps link to the yard's location: https://goo.gl/maps/gUGydoR3FqewMGpB9
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