ALL ABOARD

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad employees, their families and special guests took part in two train rides departing from Creston aboard the BNSF Railway Special Wednesday.

The BNSF Railway Special is a train equipped with 13 passenger cars of various styles. It allows BNSF to provide employee appreciation events to its approximately 48,000 employees.

“BNSF comes around each year and they select some locations to take their employees, the communities on a train ride,” said Jared Knutstrom, division trainmaster of the Nebraska Division in Creston. “Since about 1997, they’ve been doing this. I think I read somewhere around 17,000 passengers over the course of the time they’ve been doing this.”

Nearly 500 passengers, including Iowa State Representative Cecil Dolecheck, experienced the two trips to Stanton and back, each lasting about two hours.

Children and adults alike were wide-eyed with bewilderment while taking in the views of the southwest Iowa countryside from the train.

“The biggest feedback I saw was when you see kids’ faces glued to the windows or even some of the adults checking it out,” Knutstrom said. “It certainly makes everything well worth the time when you think about what it takes, and even the monetary value of what this may cost a company or organization to do, but yet the willingness to endure the cost to come out and do what they like to do for the communities and their employees.”

Greg Anderson of Creston brought his three young sons along for the evening ride, which departed Creston at 6 p.m. Wednesday and returned at about 8:15 p.m.

His sons – Charlie, age 7, Sam, 5, and Mikey, 2 – are all train enthusiasts who soaked in the opportunity to ride in passenger cars used by the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1950s.

Charlie said his favorite part of the trip was “enjoying this beautiful view,” and he “thought it would be special to go on a passenger train for my second time.”

Greg said his sons started playing with trains as babies, since their grandfather has a large model railroad in his basement.

When the Anderson family went to Chicago a few years ago, Greg said his wife drove so he and his sons could ride Amtrak back to Creston.

For Greg, Wednesday’s ride on the BNSF Railway Special provided a chance to bond with his three young sons.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Greg said. “It’s fun to ride with friends of ours, co-workers, and it’s something that my kids and I can do together. It’s better than anything on TV.”

The Anderson family sat in the upper deck of the Bay View car, known for its dome-window top, which allows for panoramic views. Other cars included sleeper cars and a party car, featuring a bar and open space for mingling.

The BNSF Railway Special reached a maximum speed of 60 mph during its two trips Wednesday, slowing down to meet regulations at various signals and when it met empty coal trains along the way.

Knutstrom said the general consensus is it has been about 10 years since the BNSF Railway Special last came to Creston.

With Creston being a smaller terminal in the BNSF network, Knutstrom said he was pleased to see the turnout for Wednesday’s train rides.

For BNSF employees, Wednesday’s rides provided a break from their typical train experiences.

“Kind of like some of the other employees, it’s almost like it’s just another train,” Knutstrom said. “But really, when you boil down to it, it’s not just another train. You think about the memories, the smiles and the lasting impressions on the people’s faces when they deboard the train and take off and you hope that in addition to the fun they had that maybe they learned something about the railroad. I hope everybody had fun. We’ll certainly look for it here in another 10 years.”