The Great Lakes Central’s 2019 merger brought a pair of EMD SD40-2’s to the roster. They remained in Michigan for about a year (long enough to get patch-painted with a big old AA flag) before moving down east, where the BAR patch-patched painted them with the modern BAR logo, but otherwise left them in the paint they originally had on the Great Lakes Central.

2020 brought five more SD40-2s to the roster when the Algoma Southern was merged into the system. These units had actually been purchased for the ALSO (when CN sold the line it didn’t include any motive power), but were soon transferred to the BAR to join the slowly shrinking fleet of EMDs based at the Derby Shops.

In 2024-2025, the entire fleet of DL41s were retired, mainly in 2024, except for Ottawa Valley #1600, which remained operational until spring 2025.

And then in 2026 the United Railway Trust merger brought another pair of SD40-2’s back onto the roster, which were then immediately nicknamed “the bad pennies”. These units had been remanufactured at ILW and the Derby Shops into “SD478-2"s, with Cummins QSK78 prime movers and an AC drivetrain.