In the late 70’s and into the 80’s, I noticed BN lettered some locos with WBR reporting marks. Does anyone have information as to why? Is WBR real trackage ( and if so, how many miles, where?), or is it a some kind of business arrangement, (ie, a “shell” company)?
I vaguely remember that it was a company being set up by BN to circumvent some union requirements and reduce expenses. I don’t remember the particulars, nor did I know that units had been relettered (or sublettered). All I remember is that it left a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak.
Incorporated in Minnesota on July 14, 1890, the Winona Bridge Railway Company began operating in September 1891. The company owned a bridge between Winona, MN and East Winona, WI. Mileage was 1.12 miles and the entire capital stock of the company was owned by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Green Bay & Western. Line was leased by the two railroads under contract by lease on September 14, 1938. Data from Moody’s.
Don’t know the rest of the story.
Winona Bridge was (the bridge partially burned and was removed by 1990) a jointly owned bridge over the Mississippi River between Winona, MN and Marshland, Ws originally built as a shortcut to the west. It was part owned by predecessors of BN, CNW & GB&W(FRV)…In 1985 BN bought out CNW’s share of the bridge and set up a shell company to create a competitive route to move intermodal trains between Chicago and Seattle and circumvent some absurd union work rules (SShaves “Bad Taste”). The venture failed before it started and the bridge burned in 1990 and was removed as a threat to river traffic. The railroads that meet there now are DM&E, CN-IC , CP (Soo) and BNSF with no bridge across the river. The Winona Bridge case is frequently cited in STB procedeings (FD-31163) in certain trackage rights and line embargo cases involving “bridge rights” for shortlines …It is still a shell company without a bridge… If DM&E happens, the bridge may return as a negotiating chip with BNSF over access to Wisconsin and the CN system.
Mudchicken
Wsn’t Gerald Grinstine created the Winona Bridge Company for Intermodal Trains from CHICAGO TO SEATTLE?
As mentioned above, the Winona Bridge Railway has been around for a while. If you look through old editions of Moody’s Transportation Manual, you will find scores of paper railroad companies that existed to build bridges, tunnels, branch lines, etc. but were never absorbed into the parent road for a variety of reasons.
The prime example of the use of such a subsidiary to effect a change in work rules is Guilford’s use of Springfield Terminal to lease its other railroads in order to use the more liberal work rules in ST’s union contracts.