[CBQ] WES HAAS, 1943 - 2026

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From: Lincoln Railfans Club <lincoln.railfans.club@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Subject: WES HAAS, 1943 - 2026
To:

WES HAAS, 1943 - 2026

With great sadness I report the passing of Wes Haas, Lincoln resident and longtime member of the Lincoln Railfans Club.  Wes passed away peacefully at Angel’s Landing, Good Samaritan Society, in Beatrice, January 18, 2026.

Wes grew up in Denver, where his father was a Union Pacific engineer.  Wes related that his father had enough seniority to hold a regular assignment on UP’s City Of Denver passenger train, and Wes rode with him in the cab to Sterling and back.

His interest in railroads led him to participate in numerous fan trips.  Wes started taking railroad photos in his youth, when the steam-to-diesel transition was underway.  He was involved in the Colorado Railroad Museum in its early days, and made many acquaintances through the railroad enthusiast organizations and historical societies popular in those days.

Wes began his railroad career in 1962 as a coach cleaner in the Burlington’s Denver coach yard.  He worked his way into the Mechanical Department, and became a skilled locomotive Electrician.  His abilities were rewarded with promotions, and in 1981 Wes was assigned to the Lincoln Diesel Shop.  Meanwhile, CB&Q became BN, and BN became BNSF. Wes retired from BNSF in Lincoln as a Locomotive Electrical Supervisor in 2003, after 41 years of railroad service.

In addition to his Class I railroad experiences, as part of his service in the U. S. Army, Wes spent time at Fort Eustis VA, home of the Transportation Corps’ full size training railroad.  He also volunteered as a locomotive engineer on the Lincoln Children’s Zoo railroad.

Wes was active in the Lincoln Railfans Club for over 40 years, having joined the club after moving to Lincoln.  He held various leadership positions in the club, and would occasionally favor the club with a presentation of some of the incredible photos he had taken, including the final days of Colorado & Southern revenue steam, and the Rio Grande’s exotic Krauss-Maffei diesel-hydraulic locomotives.  At the “after meetings” at the Village Inn, he shared stories of his personal experiences, including working on the Burlington’s office cars and famous E5 locomotives, and the intricacies of locomotive electrical systems.  The BN Expeditor (published by Friends Of Burlington Northern Railroad) published a 2-part interview with Wes (April and July 2019), in which he discussed his life as a railroader.

At the time of this writing, final arrangements are pending.

 
Please forward this information to any who may find it of interest.

Paul Boslaugh

Lincoln Railfans Club

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