Burlington Northern GP39-E #2751 was captured leading the southbound “Arco Turn” along the riverfront in Ft. Madison, Iowa on 22 August 1990. The Arco Turn was a local based out of Quincy, Illinois. Mornings it would head north for Burlington, Iowa, switching industries in towns along the way. In the afternoon, it would head back south.
GP39-E #2751 was rebuilt from a GP30, in this case from ex-CB&Q GP30 #946 (BN #2223). As of 2023, this unit is shown to still be on the roster of BNSF.
I had just moved to Keokuk, Iowa, the next town south, in April of this year. I was out railfanning quite often, enjoying the variety of BN and ATSF, which I didn’t have back home in Michigan. It’s hard to believe it was more than 3 decades ago.
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