BNSF recognizes 175 years of railroading

Yesterday, BNSF Railway Co. marked the 175th anniversary of the creation of the Aurora Branch Railroad, which evolved into what is BNSF today.

On Feb. 12, 1849, the Illinois General Assembly chartered the Aurora Branch, a 6-mile-long track between Batavia, Illinois, and West Chicago. The entity started with borrowed equipment and secondhand steel tracks, according to BNSF's Rail Talk blog.

Today, BNSF serves 28 states in the western two-thirds of the United States, three Canadian provinces and five Mexican gateways. The railroad's network covers 32,500 route miles of track.

"Our legacy of growth and innovation was made possible by generations of resilient and dedicated railroaders from more than 400 predecessor rail lines, leading up to the people of BNSF who continue that tradition today," said BNSF President and CEO Katie Farmer.