BNSF Symbols

For years, trains in North America ran under a numbering system. Various railroads used different conventions for those systems, but it normally broke a number down into the Class of the train and which direction it was heading. Over the years, some railroads started playing with Alpha-Numeric symbols in an attempt to make the symbol a little easier to understand as to its origination/destination points (famously pioneered by the Southern Pacific). Through various mergers, acquisitions and what not, some of these new Alpha-Numeric symbols survived while other railroads went back to simple numbers.

Most of the eastern and Canadian railroads stuck with numbers, and once you understand how the numbers are assigned, it becomes fairly easy to see the logic behind them. Canadian National, on the other hand, expanded on the number system and now their trains run with a 5-digit number as the symbol (although its usually only the first three digits that are referenced as the train number). Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific both use the traditional Alpha-Numeric system, and many Class II and Shortline railroads have adopted a version of this. They have all followed some basic rules in applying these symbols, and you can get a sense of this by visiting the Second Sections or Extra Trains page for more information.

Then there's BNSF, who have made train symbols a science rather than an art form. Before the big merger that formed the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, both BN and ATSF ran with a numbering system for their trains. Both systems were neat and easy to understand. ATSF ran their trains with three-number symbols, indicating the originating region, the type of train and the terminating region. Chicago was in the #1 region and Northern California was #9, so the hottest train on the system was the 199 train (with its counterpart, the 991. These were UPS-dedicated trailer trains run between the Santa Fe's Willow Springs Yard near Chicago, to North Bay, CA. The middle '9' denoted a very hot train, and the lesser priority trains dropped down in number.

BN ran an even simpler system, with low-digit numbers being assigned to the hottest trains. #1 was the hot-shot from the former CB&Q Cicero Yard in Chicago, to South Seattle. #3 was the same type of train but ended up in Portland, OR. Under this system, the higher the number, the lower class a train had (with a bunch of locals in the 900s). Other conventions stood up over the years as well, with the 112/113 combination being an interchange train from Southern Pacific running between Portland and Seattle, which offered shippers a 'through-train' service on both railroads.

Unless you work at BNSF's headquarters in Ft. Worth, TX or have access to the Crew Management System on a computer, it is very difficult to discern what has become of the BNSF symbol system. There are commonalities between the train types, but BNSF is constantly fiddling with the way they symbol their trains, and recently did a complete overhaul of the intermodal business and changed all the symbols for those trains. In this article, we will do a deep dive into the workings of a BNSF symbol so the player may have a better understanding of what they're looking at when deciding which symbol to attach to a BNSF train in FYM. Changes/questions/comments are always appreciated and can be sent to KEL27.

Symbol Breakdown

To make this a little easier to understand, we will break down the entire system into two types of trains: Road Trains and Yard Trains. This doesn't imply that Road Trains don't work yards and visa-versa, but the symbols used are quite a bit different for the two types.

Road Trains

For Road Trains, the symbol can be broken down like this: A-BBBCCC#-##X#

Type	Orig/Dest	Special	Date	Computer
A	BBBCCC	#	##	X#

• A = Type of train, be it a manifest, unit train, etc. (List below)
• BBB = The origination terminal of the train.
• CCC = The destination terminal of the train.
• # = The special characteristics of the train. This varies widely among the different categories of trains, at which we'll take a closer look.
• ## = The date the train was called. This may differ from the date the train actually departs due to passing midnight, service disruptions, etc.
• X# = This is the mystery number that is used internally by BNSF to determine any number of variables, including routing, crew logistics, freight type and anything else they can think of.

There are (at last count) close to 4000 individual codes for origination and destination. Some of these are still hold-overs from stations that are closed or abandoned, while other are used solely to denote a specific type of interchange between BNSF and other railroads. Because of the amount, we will not be discussing the specifics of those codes unless they have a bearing on a particular train.

Train Type codes are listed here grouped by their normal "fleet" types:

• B = Baretable Intermodal
• S = International Intermodal
• Q = Domestic Intermodal (there used to be a 'P' symbol to show Priority Intermodal, but it hasn't been used in some time)
• Z = High Priority Domestic Intermodal (don't stand in their way)
• V = Vehicle Trains
• D = Planned Light Engine movements
• J = Dimensional Special - usually Boeing aircraft trains or windmill specials.
• H = High Priority Manifest - most of BNSF's manifest trains fall under this category, even if they're not that "high" of a priority.
• M = Regular Manifest
• L = Local (see Yard Trains)
• R = Road Switcher (see Yard Trains)
• T = Transfer (has many different meanings and can sometimes be found in Yard Trains as well)
• G = Unit Agriculture Loaded (G for Grain)
• X = Unit Agriculture Empty
• C = Unit Coal Loaded (C for Coal)
• E = Unit Coal Empty (E for Empty)
• U = Unit Train not otherwise specified
• Y = Yard Job (see Yard Trains)

As complicated as this looks, it does give BNSF a wide variety of options when the need arises to make a new train. Given the thousands of combinations that are possible, it is possible to set up a train in the computer from any point on the system to any other point on the system under with an option of train types.

Now let's break down each category:

Intermodal Services

There are four basic types of trains in the Intemodal Service Unit: Baretables, S-trains (International Stacks), Q-trains (Domestic Stacks) & Z-trains.

Baretables (B-trains) get their name from their appearance. The traditional baretable train is just a string of empty intermodal well cars, spine cars and intermodal flats, and when seen from a distance resembles a long, bare table. However, baretable trains can also be used to move empty intermodal equipment (like trailers and containers) to point where they're needed by a shipper. BNSF moves a lot of FedEx baretables out of the Pacific Northwest to Southern California as the equipment arrives brand new in Seattle or Portland. If containers are involved, these particular trains are usually single-stacked as BNSF's route to CA does not have the tunnel clearances needed for double-stacks. The type of baretable train can be seen by looking at it's number in the Special category.

• 1 = made up primarily of Spine cars.
• 4 = repositioning move, as in our FedEx example above.
• 5 = made up primarily of International Well cars.
• 7 = made up primarily of Domestic Well cars.

Note that in FYM we don't have the ability to mix loads in intermodal trains. We know that 53' domestic containers can ride on top of 40' international containers, but that is not possible to do in the game. At this time, we also don't have any way of discerning between full and empty containers, although that ability has been discussed.

International stacks (S-trains) are trains that usually handle only International Well cars. However, trains can be filled out with other intermodal containers if there is a need to move them and the train has space. S-trains tend to be single shipper trains, and a lot of time will have only one or two destinations mixed in the train. An example would be any train originating at West Seattle, WA. MSC is the only shipping carrier that uses that particular dock, so all trains departing or arriving that yard should only have MSC containers. By contrast, Seattle Harbor Island sees different shipping lines and therefor the trains departing that yard can have a bigger mix of containers. Seattle Stacy Street is a mixed-use facility, so trains departing there can see a large variety of containers from any ship arriving in the port. The Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach tend to run their trains specifically for shipping companies that call in the individual sections of the ports. A look into the web pages of both ports will give you an idea of which shipping lines use which particular docks. Los Angeles Hobart Yard, like Seattle Stacy, is a mixed use facility and S-trains working there tend to be more varied in their makeup.

Q-trains get their designation from being "Quality Service." This was to differentiate them from "Premium Service" (P-trains), which is a service no longer offered by BNSF. Q-trains are normally made up of domestic containers; however, some Q-trains also carry loaded autoracks and may also carry international containers if the train has space and can still run according to the schedule given to the shippers. There are a lot of domestic shippers, so Q-trains will usually have a wide variety of "cans in the wells." Q-trains can also be run at the behest of individual shippers, with these trains easy to spot with much less variety in the containers themselves. JB Hunt, Amazon, and UPS are three of BNSF's largest customers and BNSF will run trains solely for those shippers. BNSF has not gone full PSR (yet!), but on occasion there will be manifest traffic tacked onto Q-trains. Again, this only happens if the train has space and the schedule can still be met. Special traffic can also be run on Q-trains, such as the Boeing 737 fuselages BNSF carries from Wichita, KS to Renton, WA. Depending on Boeing's production schedule, this traffic can either have its own train or be added to the head end of a Q-train headed in the right direction.

BNSF's most exclusive intermodal offering is the High Priority Intermodal, or Z-train. Z-trains are the hottest trains on the system and often get special treatment from the dispatch center to keep on schedule. Although BNSF would never publically admit it, Z-trains often get preferential treament even over Amtrak. A hallmark of Z-trains is that they are normally overpowered and usually contain a lot of trailers in addition to their domestic containers. Shippers pay a premium to have their traffic on these trains. UPS is said to be the originator of the Z-train idea, having developed the concept with the Santa Fe railroad. Santa Fe's famous 199/991 trains ran from Willow Springs, IL to North Bay, CA, usually completing their trips in less than 72-hours. Nothing stood in the way of these trains. That tradition lives on with BNSF in the form of the Z-WSPNBY and Z-NBYWSP trains, although guaranteed delivery times have been loosend somewhat. Up north, Burlington Northern ran trains 1 and 2 for UPS between Chicago's Cicero terminal and South Seattle, WA, also almost solely for UPS traffic. Other low-numbered trains ran UPS traffic to other Pacific Northwest or Midwest cities. Although not quite as hot as their counterparts on the Southern Transcon, the northern trains still get overpowered and have preferential treatment moving over the road. Another facet of Z-trains is that there won't be any other business on these trains, save for the oddball international container.

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Yard Trains

Type	Orig	Job	Special	Date	Computer
A	BBB	###	#	##	X#

• A = Type of train: Local, Road Switcher or Yard
• BBB = The origination Terminal or Division of the train.
• ### = The job number of the train. This number has different meanings depending on the type of train.
• # = The special characteristics of the train, usually whether the train is a regularly scheduled train or an extra.
• ## = The date the train was called. This may differ from the date the train actually departs due to passing midnight, service disruptions, etc.
• X# = This is the mystery number that is used internally by BNSF to determine any number of variables, including routing, crew logistics, sections, freight type and anything else they can think of.