As I've mentioned several times, the Fry's in Renton is right by one of Boeing's big production sites. One of the fun things about being around the Boeing plant is that sometimes you get to airplane fuselages laying around on rail cars, since 737 fuselage production was outsourced to Kansas a long time ago. (Even more fun is the street running section in downtown Renton; it's a dream of mine to see a plane train running through here, but logistically I doubt that will ever happen.) I'm not sure why these pictures turned out so terribly, but I still couldn't resist throwing together a quick little post on them! (The last picture, from the Lowe's garden center, is particularly amusing...) Based on the line numbers marked on the planes, here's where these ended up:
- LN 7230: ET-AVK, a 737 Max 8 for Ethiopian Airlines (no, not the one that crashed)
- LN 7231: SE-RTA, a 737 Max 8 for Norwegian Air Sweden (currently out of service due to Norwegian's bankruptcy)
- LN 7233: VT-MXE, a 737 Max 8 for Spicejet
- LN 7235: PK-LPV, a 737-800 for Lion Air (not one of the many planes that they've crashed -- I strongly suspect that the reason it took a second Max crash to realize there was an issue is because the first one was with an airline with such a terrible safety record)
- LN 7239: N906DN, a 737-900ER for Delta (making it probably the only one of the batch to return to the Seattle area after delivery!)
This was a short little post, but I couldn't resist talking about another interesting part of local transportation. I'm pretty much interested in anything that moves things or people, so aviation is something I like to talk about too!
That's pretty neat. I've heard about Boeing transporting fuselages by rail like this before. Since you're into aviation, as I am as well, you might be amused to know that the last 737 I was on, actually the last plane I was on, was a WestJet 737-600 between Calgary and Houston-IAH. As you probably know, the -600 series is the rarest 737 out of the 737NGs. Oh well, on my previous flight to Canada, I was on a Delta 717-200 (MD-95) so I suppose going to Canada is a good opportunity to fly on some rare planes, lol.
ReplyDeleteAs things relate to Fry's, are you aware of the 727 and 747SP that Fry's had painted up with their name on it? I know the San Jose Sharks hockey team, my favorite hockey team, used those Fry's planes as their charter planes for some time. Here are some images of them: https://www.airliners.net/search?airline=24781&display=detail
With Fry's, I suppose you can combine your hobbies!
Cool -- I don't believe I've ever flown on a 736, and I doubt I ever will have the chance at this rate. Most of the remaining ones were at Westjet, and I believe they've all been retired now due to COVID (along with so many other planes I wish I had been able to fly on). I have been on a 717, though, on Hawaiian!
DeleteYeah, I had heard of those planes. They would have been much more cool to show than this, but obviously that wasn't going to happen!
FWIW, I also had a flight on a WestJet 737-700 and there really isn't much difference between that and the -600. I think maybe the -700 had a slightly more updated interior and a winglet to see in the window, lol. I do prefer the smaller planes though as it's a lot easier to get in and off of them.
DeleteHouston-based Continental Airlines operated some 737-100s that were ex-PEOPLExpress planes after their merger in the 1980s. I don't know how often those -100s made it to Houston, if ever, as I'm guessing Continental kept them on the flights out of Newark that PEOPLExpress was using the planes for.
The 717-200 is a nice plane and I'm glad I got to take a flight on one. I've always been a fan of the 2x3 seating setup on the DC-9 family planes.