Members of Alliance, Neb., Local 1517 recently got a treat when one of BNSF Railway's special 25th anniversary commemorative locomotives passed through the railroad's shop.

"We've worked on these locomotives for years," said Local 1517 President Dave Brennan, "so this was obviously something special."

BNSF is the result of more than 400 railroad line mergers and acquisitions that have happened since 1849. It became BNSF in 1995 when the Burlington Northern and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway companies merged.

Over the summer, BNSF began rolling out 10 of these special locomotives throughout its network, which covers the western two-thirds of the mainland United States. The GE Evolution series model pictured above, Brennan said, had been freshly painted and emblazoned with decals honoring some of the largest railroads that have been brought under the BNSF umbrella over the years.

"I caught this one coming through and had to get some pictures of it," Brennan said.

Brennan described the Alliance shop as the largest operating BNSF facility in Nebraska, with the 100 or so members of Local 1517 handling repairs and maintenance of many of the railway's locomotives operating throughout the Cornhusker State as well as neighboring Wyoming and Colorado.