Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s Stockton to Denver manifest freight drops downgrade off Big 10 Curve approaching Rocky, Colorado, on the afternoon of April 28, 2002. In the late 1990s, a large group of GE C44-9Ws were painted Heritage II using some sort of inferior orange paint that faded badly to the color of dirty, faded yellow—almost UP-like—while the yellow paint paint and scotchlite stripping held up better, giving the units a hideous look that almost makes one want to hurl. They were cycled through a repaint program, thankfully, but not before they ruined a few photos.
