CT- You should have seen it here, during the Frisco mis-management. When they leased off MRL. BN people who worked those old NP lines, even if never employed by NP, moved north to the old GN. And was there friction, when folks started getting bumped out! Boxcab E50
================================= You may want to reconsider that statement since it is contrary to what the financial community and verifiable statistics show. BNSF is actually earning the cost of capital, a phenomenon that is rather unusual in railroad world the past 50 years. CT
================================= You may want to reconsider that statement since it is contrary to what the financial community and verifiable statistics show. BNSF is actually earning the cost of capital, a phenomenon that is rather unusual in railroad world the past 50 years. CT [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]Oh, I'm sure that in general the railroad is doing well, but everybody in the railfan press and even here seems a little more jittery on this subject. In either case, the point stands that KCS is currently a much more dynamic company.
About a month ago I attended a talk given by Fred Frailey, the editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and a frequent contributor to Trains magazine. He had a power point presentation that put up all kinds of graphs and charts comparing all the current class ones from all kinds of different aspects. He made a pretty good case that the railroads were doing better than they ever have in history. All but one that is. From all the information shown, it was UP that looked bloated and ungainly. However, he was optimistic that even UP will turn things around given the current economic conditions and all the current infrastructure investments they are making. It was interesting that even CSX had a far better average train speed than UP.
Remember this- The stock market is (grossly oversimplified) little more than legalized gambling. Right now, RR stocks are way up. They've been up before. And tumbled heavily. I've an acquaintance who is an "investment counselor." And by his late thirties, he was wealthy. Had an interesting talk with him last summer. He steers his clientele away from all transportation stocks. Especially railroads. Doing so must not be hurting him! $$$!!!! Boxcab E50
Seniority is earned from working a specific subdivision, correct? More specifically, experience from working from one crew base to another? Like Denver to Alliance? I can see why you couldn't take seniority with you. One guy with 34 years working the line over Steven's Pass wouldn't be able to use some of this knowledge gained on the other corridor, say Stampede Pass. Train handling skills are prolly usable on any corridor, but knowing every curve, signal, grade crossing, speed restriction, and grade only comes with repeatedly working a specific area. That said, what's this about merging rosters????
Funny, I always thought BNSF stood for Big New Super Frisco........... They should paint it all Mandarin Orange & White & be done with it. Oh yes, move corporate HQ back to Springfield, MO.
Yeah, you don't see much Manderin Orange out there anymore. Other than the Pumkins there are only Green Weenies a few War Bonnets and some Cub Scouts. I still see some Cream and Green "Executives" on the coal trains every now and then.
Are they still referring to one of the colors on the so-called "executive" scheme "Grimestain Green"? As for the "Goat" colors, I prefer the so-called H1 scheme- the second one looks like Tyco came up with it. Don't get me started on the swoosh logo......bleacchh! I've been referring to the red & silver-painted diesels as "Fleets", short for "Super Fleet". I've seen representatives of every color scheme BNSF has except for the green/cream Big Macs rolling thru Sherman.
Bob, I like 'em in Ft Worth just fine. That way my daughter and son-in-law can stay in Texas. David started dispatching this year after stints in PRB as an engineer (he hogged a lot of green & cream 70 MACs) and as a conductor in AZ (Kingman). As for the paint, give 'em time. They seem to change schemes more frequently than most of us change our underware mg:
How true. I'll bet plenty of people still can't figure out who, or what a BNSF Railway is... Boxcab E50
Well, let's see: BN, Cascade Green BN units patched for BNSF, ATSF, Bluebonnet units patched BNSF, Warbonnets, BNSF Warbonnets, BN executive MACs, BNSF exec MACs, BNSF H1, BNSF H2, BNSF H3, not to mention the myriad of rent-a-wreck units from FURX, etc on the BNSF. And now you can toss in another batch of MRL units on lease to BNSF. Dizzying.... Funny how BN's merger in '70 was smoother, paint-job-wise. They didn't mess around for 10 years to paint everything. Even if it took years to do so, they still had a corporate identity. BN green was the color. Nowadays, who knows? Except for avid railfans, the general public wouldn't know what to think. *plink, plink*
While we're on the subject- I wish that overpaid corporate people who come up with todays' cutesy logos, initials, etc, would all be fired. :angry: Yes. I know it's a cheaper paint scheme. Let's get back to seeing an actual company name on the sides of equipment. This "alphabet soup" stuff stinks. A name says something. A few letters, seemingly random to the uninitiated, just leaves people scratching their heads..... "Daddy- What's a BNSF? Where are they from?" "Son, I've have absolutely no clue!" Grrrrrrrrr!!! :zip: Boxcab E50
Funny, someone the other day watched me park my Jeep and asked me, "What do your plates mean, BNSF?" The railroad I replied. "Oh is that what they call railroads now?" No it is a name of a railroad. "who?" Santa Fe? "Yes", Burlington Northern? "ah yeah ok?" They merged ten years ago, became the BNSF Railway. "huh, ok." Maybe they really should have called it the Burlington Santa Fe
