![In 1975 Dale Dannewitz had a three-week stint on the railroad, then began his locomotive engineer career in 1978. (Caption and Photograph Courtesy of BNSF)](https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BNSFLead-1-315x168.png)
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After Nearly 50 Years of Service, BNSF Engineer Dale Dannewitz Retires
It was 1976, a year when there was a resurgence of leisure train travel with the start of Amtrak, when Class I railroads in the Northeast joined to form Conrail, and railroads across the nation debuted patriotic livery paint schemes in honor of America’s bicentennial. And in Minot, N.Dak., a young Dale Dannewitz started his railroading career that would span nearly a half century.