Bountiful BNSF

BNSF Railway: It is one of North America’s – and the world’s – railroading goliaths. BNSF spins its ribbons of steel across 32,500 route miles which stretch through 28 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. BNSF calls upon upwards of 8,000 locomotives and 35,000 employees to haul agricultural products, intermodal traffic, industrial goods, vehicles, coal, chemicals, and petroleum. And BNSF generates more than $22 billion in annual revenues.

As impressive as today’s BNSF operations and statistics are, the railroad also rejoices in a rich history and heritage. Formed in 1996, BNSF’s predecessors include a virtual who’s who of American railroading, including Burlington Northern, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington Route (CB&Q), Spokane, Portland & Seattle, Frisco (SL-SF), and famed Santa Fe (and indeed we’ll explore BNSF’s remarkable predecessors in a future DTL article).

Befitting BNSF as one of the world’s most extraordinary and diverse railroads, Train Simulator Classic offers a bountiful selection of BNSF routes, locomotive and equipment packs, and realistic scenario packs to bring the railroad to full life and provide you with countless hours of railroading challenges and enjoyment. Let’s take a look:

Train Simulator Classic offers you the opportunity to climb aboard and experience big-time North American railroading on no less than seven routes which feature BNSF operations!

Three superb and popular Train Simulator Classic routes re-create legendary portions of the BNSF’s northern-tier main line as originally set down by the Great Northern – including the Train Simulator Classic Marias Pass, Stevens Pass, and Montana Hi-Line routes. BNSF’s unique and fast-paced triple-track steel speedway extending west from Chicago is the subject of the remarkable Racetrack: Aurora - Chicago route. And three additional Train Simulator Classic routes – the Tehachapi Pass route, Pacific Surfliner route, and vintage Cajon Pass route – offer BNSF action on shared-trackage lines. Together, these routes deliver BNSF railroading stretching from Chicago, America’s enthralling railroad capital, all the way to the Pacific Northwest and California! And each of these routes (except Tehachapi Pass) are today also home to regular Amtrak passenger operations.

Train Simulator Classic BNSF routes provide hundreds of miles of BNSF trackage and DLC offers a variety of realistic locomotives and equipment to put to work! Train Simulator Classic BNSF routes each include locomotives, most notably the BNSF General Electric ES44DC and Electro-Motive GP38-2, and you can expand and enhance your BNSF locomotive roster with Train Simulator Classic’s variety of locomotive and equipment packs. As included with routes or as available as DLC, nine locomotive types are ready for duty, including the EMD SD40-2, SD70ACe, SD70MAC, SD75, GP9, GP38-2, SW1500, and General Electric Dash 9-44CW and ES44DC. Many of the attractive DLC packs include the locomotives in multiple BNSF liveries and even the colors of additional railroads, plus complementary freight equipment.

Train Simulator Classic Scenario Packs are an ideal way to extend and enhance your enjoyment of routes and locomotives and the packs feature realistic railroading experiences. Scenario packs with BNSF operations are available for the Marias Pass, Stevens Pass, Montana Hi-Line, Chicago Racetrack, Tehachapi Pass, and Pacific Surfliner routes.

Literally hundreds of additional BNSF scenarios created by many talented members of the Train Simulator Classic community are available at Steam Workshop and the BNSF scenarios include some of the Workshop’s most popular and highly rated scenarios. In short, countless hours of contemporary, captivating, and challenging BNSF railroading awaits you with the rich variety of BNSF content available for Train Simulator Classic! All BNSF content for Train Simulator Classic is available at the Steam Store.

Add-Ons mentioned in this article...

BNSF Railway, stretching 32,500 route miles through 28 U. S. states and three Canadian provinces, is a modern railroading goliath, and you can bring BNSF to life with a variety of extraordinary routes and DLC with Train Simulator Classic! On the superb Montana Hi-Line: Shelby - Havre route, a trio of BNSF General Electric ES44DCs have manifest tonnage on the roll across the high plans of “Big Sky” country. Screenshots by Gary Dolzall.

Among the BNSF routes available for Train Simulator Classic is the railroad’s historic Marias Pass crossing of the Montana Rockies. The Marias Pass: Shelby - Whitefish route re-creates the rugged line originally constructed by the Great Northern which today is a busy conveyor of intermodal and manifest tonnage. At Blacktail, Montana, on the west slope of Marias Pass, BNSF trains with GE ES44DC and Dash 9-44CW power meet on double track.

At Cutbank, Montana on the Train Simulator Classic Marias Pass route, a westbound grain train behind EMD SD70MAC 9713 overtakes a manifest powered by SD40-2s (above). The SD70MAC wearing the railroad’s unique “Executive” livery is available in the SD70 V2 Volume 2 Loco Add-On, while the SD40-2 is among the BNSF (and Burlington Northern) diesels featured in the content-rich BNSF Locomotive Pack Add-On. Also captured at Cut Bank, a BNSF GE Dash 9-44CW in Santa Fe-inspired Warbonnet livery (below) handles local duty together with an SD40-2. The Dash 9 is available in the BNSF Dash 9 Loco Add-On. Both Cut Bank scenes are from scenarios included in Marias Pass Scenario Pack 01.

The Big Sky country of Montana is one of America’s largest producers of grain, and on the Train Simulator Classic BNSF Montana Hi-Line route, beautifully created by VNH, you’ll have the opportunity to both highball fast transcontinental intermodal traffic and serve the route’s numerous lineside grain elevators.

Train Simulator Classic’s Racetrack: Aurora - Chicago route delivers all the urgent bustle and drama of BNSF’s famed triple track speedway extending west from Chicago. A hot double stack train bound from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest hustles through picturesque Highlands, Illinois (above), while on a snowy winter night, more leisurely BNSF EMD GP38-2s are at Aurora, Illinois handling the West Chicago local (below).

The remarkable BNSF railroading that awaits you with Train Simulator Classic extends from Chicago all the way to the Pacific coast! Along Puget Sound on the Stevens Pass route, magnificently developed by G-Trax, BNSF priority trains meet (above). On the point of the eastbound intermodal is a BNSF SD70ACe as available in the SD70 V2 Volume 2 Loco Add-On. At the summit of Stevens Pass on a snowy winter eve, a pair of BNSF GE ES44DCs lead a westbound manifest from the shadowed west portal of 7.8-mile-long Cascade Tunnel (below).

A bountiful selection of authentic BNSF diesel power is available with Train Simulator Classic routes and DLC packs. Locomotive types ready for service include the EMD SD40-2, SD70ACe, SD70MAC, SD75, GP9, GP38-2, SW1500, and General Electric Dash 9-44CW and ES44DC. Many of the available diesels are featured in multiple accurate liveries which BNSF has employed since its formation nearly a quarter-century ago.

In a classic image of BNSF big-time railroading, a General Electric ES44DC-powered freight climbs the east slope of Stevens Pass amid the beautiful and remote Cascade Mountains. Countless hours of contemporary, captivating, and challenging BNSF railroading await you with the variety of content available for Train Simulator Classic!