GE Dash 8-40BW

GE Dash 8-40BW

The Dash 8-40BW, or B40-8W as some call it, is a four-axle road diesel locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) in the early 1990s. It is part of the GE Dash 8 Series of freight locomotives.

The locomotive model designation is interpreted as follows: B (B type truck arrangement, 2 axles per truck) 40 (4000 horsepower) -8 (the generation when it was designed, in this case meaning the late 1980s) W (Widecab).

ATSF was the only railroad to order the B40-8W, and a B unit (cabless booster unit) was almost made with it, but because the price would have been the same for B40-8Ws with cabs or without, they decided to order units with cabs only.

All of ATSF's B40-8Ws became part of BNSF Railway, and many of them were repainted into BNSF's orange, yellow, and green "Heritage 2" paint scheme.

A few were featured in There Goes a Train