On the boring fallen flags topic there seems to be a lot of hard feelings toward BN and I think the topic deserves its own thread. So what is your opinion?
Personally I like them. This might be a bit superficial but I like all of the different paint schemes that they had. Don’t get me wrong though I liked some of the railroads they took over too and I wish some of them were still around.
BN RAILROAD FOREVER!
Allan.
I hate The BN!!! The only thibg i liked was 2 paint schemes on their locos,
the desert storm red white and blue, and the executive, but other than that BN sucks
Stupid Sewer Pickles
I absolutely adore Burlington Northern ! The combination of Green Machines
and beautiful pine forests, meadows and mountains is striking. It’s too bad
BN lasted only 25 years. It still bothers me to think of it as a Fallen Flag.
I know a lot of shippers didn’t like BN, but every RR has it’s share of troubles.
One of these days, I’m going to make it up to Marias Pass,Montana to see
where the Cascade green beasts once roamed.[:)]
BN is Ok, their whiteface paint sceme was pretty cool
I can’t say that I love BN but I definently don’t hate it. I grew up just off of C&NW’s east-west main outside of Chicago and the racetrack wasn’t all that far away. I still miss the E units.
It will depend if you have worked for them or not and how you feel about losing the NP, GN, SP&S, CB&Q and SL-SF. If you can remember the fallen flags you may not be as excited as someone born after 1970.
Over all the BN was a good railroad. They started the powder river coal routes and also were the first to buy and deploy AC locomotives in large numbers. BN also kept EMD in the loc buliding field when they ordered 350 sd70macs which did not even exsit except as a possible design. Yes the BN took over the Frisco in 1982 they also bought the Santa Fe in 1995. Just remember this the BN took a huge risk in the early 80,s with the PRB and then 10 years later with AC’s. However you may feel about them as a railroad they were the bigger inavators than the vaunted UP in that era. UP actually did not build into the powder river it was the CNW actually that did it and then gave UP trackage rights over the line they had just built.
edbenton, the Santa Fe bought the BN, the BN did not but SF.
REST OF POST DELETED BY bnsfkline
Sorry for any controversy
Now that’s telling it like it is…
Allan.
S O
T R U E
Since I came from a Frisco family I have a little more insight into how things went during the merger. Merger agreements mean nothing two seconds after the merger takes place. Many lives were forever changed and NOT for the better, but that is a lawsuit in its own time.
I didn’t hate it OR love it. I certainly saw plenty of it… I think I just got bored of it more then anything.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
Most of the replies made to a lot of the posts started here on the forum are very very juvenile in nature.
All of the former Class 1 railroads probably did a pretty fair job of doing what they had set out to do; provide rail transportation of livestock, commodities, and people. Over time business practices and the economies changed, therefore some railroads either went bankrupt or merged with other more prosperous railroads.
Now, unless an individual was personally affected (lost his/her job) there is no reason for giving such an “attitude” towards a particular railroad. If a particular railroad gives one such feeling, then it may be time to find another hobby/interest; coin collecting, model airplanes, or bus transportation for example.
I may favor the western U.S. railroads because of location, but to personally HATE a railroad, no, that is not the case here. Watching a railroad in action is part of the fun and the railfan experience. We had better appreciate what we have the opportunity to see while rail service is still in existance.
N O T
When the first line is wrong you might as well forget the rest of the article.
As for who bought who . . . well look here.
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/003/277xxnrg.asp
JHH, I was under the impression that ATSF bought BN, thats what I read in Trains Magazine. ATSF bought BN because BN’s management became so poorly run, it wasn’t even funny. Right before the merger was announced, there was alot of reshuffling done in BN’s managment team.
The best way to get this resolved is to ask trains or contact BNSF themselves.
Makes sense to me jhhtrainplanes. Otherwise it would have been called SFBN or ATSFBN or well, you get the idea.
Basically, that is how I remembered it, Burlington Northern laid out the cash and stock for the purchase.
They alright, I love their logo. My preference would be that they had never merged with ATSF.
uspscsx
I like the Burkington Northern.
they are my 5th favorite railroad…behind the SP, UP, D&RGW, and C&EI
There was a bidding war between the BN and the UP over the purchase of the ATSF. At no time did the ATSF ever make an offer to purchase either the BN or the UP. After the purchase of the ATSF by the BN many BN officers were riffed, demoted, bought out and retired early while ATSF’s Rob Krebs and his selected underlings were chosen to run the new railroad. A BN pedigree was no guarantee of future employment with BNSF which is why the focus of the new company has been the ATSF transcontinental line.
I got to see a fair amount of BN when I was stationed in TX. As far a loving it, can’t say that that I did, but I thought that the Oakway’s were cool.
Of course, growing up along Sand Patch, one can get a bit jaded [:P]