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BN 7903


BN SD40-2 7903 was built by EMD in June of 1979 as the C&S 7903, one of a group of C&S sublettered SD40-2's numbered 7869-7923. All of these SD40-2's were intended for coal service but did see some general freight service as well. After 1980 the C&S sublettering was removed making them fully BN units.

On 8-14-83 I was on the ex-GN line over Stevens Pass photographing trains and the 7903 was leading westbound BN train 179 out of Wenatchee, WA. Up front was the 7903/6497/6634/6641 (SD40-2/SD45/F45/F45) This first photo is from the old overpass over the tracks at Leavenworth, WA.

This photo from the same day shows the 7903 West at Berne, WA about to enter the Cascade Tunnel.

And one last photo of the 7903 West after it has exited the Cascade Tunnel at Scenic, WA 8-14-83.

After the 1996 BNSF merger BN 7903 was repainted to BNSF 7903 H1 paint scheme in January 2000. This photo of the BNSF 7903 is from rrpicturearchives:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=355766

After BNSF retired the 7903 in April 2008 it was sold to HLCX who then sold the 7903 to Norfolk Southern where it entered service as the NS 3530 in November of 2013. This photo of the NS 3530 from rrpicturearchives shows it in NS black

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4291817

The next bit of news I could find was the NS 3530 being retired and sold to Mervis Recycling in November 2020. To me that sounds like it was then scrapped.