The Dash8 is a series of freight locomotives built by General Electric in the 1980s and early 1990s. These locomotives have worked hard all over North America for over 30 years and are finally starting to be retired by most freight railroads. BNSF had a large fleet of these locomotives that came from the Santa Fe Railroad as part of the BNSF merger in 1995. These included several B408 locomotives. The B408s were the last new standard cab (narrow nose) units built by GE for the Santa Fe Railroad, constructed in 1988. Fast forward to the year 2020, all but two of these locomotives have been retired by the BNSF. The last two units, BNSF 563 (ATSF 7413) and BNSF 570 (ATSF 7420) continued on in short haul manifest and local service with 563 based in the Pacific Northwest and 570 in the Midwest. During the summer of 2020, the 563 spent much of its time hauling manifest freight trains between Everett and Custer, Washington as well as in between Everett and Longview Junction. Finally, after 32 years of service, the 563 was finally sidelined in late August of 2020 and sent east for storage in Minnesota, pending final disposition. In this video, we will watch the 563 during its last days of service on the BNSF. The focus will be on the greater Bellingham area, but we will also see the locomotive on an Everett to Longview Junction manifest. We will also see wide cab B408W number 505 prior to its removal from service and storage in late May of 2020.



CoasterFan2105 is the home of all sorts of train and railroad related video content. Stop by every Friday at 9 AM Pacific time for an all new railroading adventure and be sure to check out all of my social media pages @coasterfan2105 for even more great railroad content. Thanks, and I'll see you down the line!