A BNSF Railway covered hopper still in predecessor Burlington Northern markings. Hawthorne Junction. Chicago Illinois USA. January 2007.

I took this photo on a sunny but bitterly cold late January morning, in the year of 2007. We are looking west on Canadian National Railroad trackage, at Hawthorne Junction, on the Chicago city limits just east of suburban Cicero Illinois.

Seen here is a northbound Canadian National train traveling over the Belt Railway of Chicago north / south line. We are looking at a 54 foot covered hopper still rolling around in 1970's era Burlington Northern markings, 12 years after the merger with the Atchinson ,Topeka & Santa Fe that created todays BNSF Railway. The best part of all was that this veteran car was relatively un grafitti tagged after all these years in service. A rarity in todays urban railroad environments.