TOPEKA, KS - Citing major disagreements in upper management circles, it was leaked early this April morning that the BNSF Railroad Inc. will divest itself of the former two major common carrier railroads it had consisted of for more than a decade. Reportedly, there had been internal arguments going back as far as the mid-Ninties dispute over the firing of the entire ex-BN paintshop responsible for the "Merger scheme" locomotive dubbed the "Vommit Bonnet" by watchers of the ex-ATSF railroad. More details to follow ... A lot of these stories going around today.
================================= Actually its more like a paininthe @** to operating crews! That's where crew management is! (crew callers) CT
Who cares about the Santa Fe name, they should really just call it Burlington Northern and paint everything green and black as it should be. Kevin D Mumaw
It was the BIG nothing that ruined the SANTA FE when they took over a very well run railroad & ran it into the ground. The UP is just waiting to pick up the pieces!
What we seem to have forgotten here, is that ex-AT&SF, Santa Fe Industries, and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation people were at the helm for much of the period 1995-2002. This is common in mergers. The merged entity, in this instance AT&SF, gets to essentially put it's people in leadership. This happened in 1970, with many ex- NP people going to the top of newly formed BN. (Which caused enormous resentment amongst GN people. Who thought they were the superior team, and should lead.) And again in 1980, with ex- SLSF people taking over BN. Boxcab E50
The most likely reason for many ex AT&SF managers to be on the board for BNSF is that Robbie Krebs was made CEO, in most cases your going to take a team with you that you've been working with for a while. it was the same when Ben Heineman took control of C&NW, he was ex IC and he bought olot of IC managers with him.
Seems as though things have calmed down this morning and cooler heards have prevailed. Looks like all will stay as is for now.
Is for the reason I stated above. From my past, I have some solid knowledge of this. BTW- Krebs didn't come from the AT&SF RY. Boxcab E50
Krebs was CEO of Santa Fe Pacific Corporation. The holding company that owned AT&SF RY, it's many and varied subsidiaries, a pipeline company, and more. Boxcab E50
Oh yeah???? Just ask the people and employees of West Burlington Iowa. There were rumors at one time of spinning off the coal routes to shortline operators at one time. Look at them now.....
I don't Know all the ins and outs of the various layers of managment. One would think it would have to have been a really sweet deal to convince a bunch of Chicago based ATSF people to move to Texas, But I will say the following. Merging a lean mean high speed Intermodal Santa Fe with the Leviathan Commidities hauling BN wasn't going to be pretty regardless of which managment team was in charge. Secondlly, Mike Haverty was the guy that made Santa Fe one of the best run supposedly profitable railroads in the country and now he Is turning KCS into a powerhouse while beansniff is bloated and ungainly. Hmmm.
