I BN really considered a "fallen flag" since the merger with Santa Fe? If so, why doesn't Santa Fe fall into this same category? I noticed it's not listed in the Fallen Flags area of the forum nor is it Today's Railroads. I think Santa Fe should be in the Fallen Flags area as well since the merger has made them collectively BNSF and neither truly exists seperately now. Just my 2 cents on the matter.
Hi F Unit, welcome to TrainBoard! Both ATSF and BN have their own forums in the Fallen Flags section of TrainBoard.
There are several Fallen Flag forums and they are not so obvious as the other forum types. Go to "Forum Index" after clicking on the TrainBoard logo, the scroll down to the Fallen Flag section of TB. Here is the BN forum.
Oh yeah, the "A" thingy... When I worked in a record store people were always perplexed why on earth The "Stones" would be filed under "R".
An instance of where the railroad nickname is used so often, people look there first. Some people miss the CMSt.P&P Forum, as they think "Milwaukee Road" first. Some railroads finally did change, making the nickname permanent. Such as Soo Line, and Monon. Boxcab E50
It's probably about the same with CB&Q/The Burlington Route. I never understood why it was called that when Chicago was the major city on that route, not Burlington, IA. Of course, I'm sure CB&Q carried a lot of the old gangsters down to Burlington when they used the town to lay low from Chicago law enforcement back in the 20's and 30's.
They also often used a blanket "family" paperwork, which simply stated "Burlington Lines." For example, if you have a train order, you need to look a bit more closely, to know if it's a subsidiary company. Rather than quickly filing it under CB&Q RR. Instead, it could be B-RI, C&S, or FW&DC/FW&D, etc. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific RR used a similar theme. Their paperwork often said "Rock Island Lines." Sometimes researching these makes for a fun afternoon. Boxcab E50
Yes. I cannot recall the exact times assigned. But they alternated dispatching that line. I believe it was six months each. Originally they used B-RI forms. Then they each went to using their own family paperwork. Boxcab E50
Because half the railroads in the country ran into Chicago? Railroads had to use more distinctive names. The Chicago, South Shore & South Bend was usually called the South Shore. And so on.
BN Fallen Flag It is really hard to believe the BN lasted just 25 years. The Green Machine was a very interesting road. Here in Alco Country there was always some unusual power consists. The three and sometimes four unit sets of Alco C-636's were impressive. Some of my C-636 photos from Trainpix.com
When I was riding the bus to school (e-ons ago) the bus driver (a very nice woman in her 50s at the time) called it "the Burlington", every time we crossed the tracks in town that was a shocker...I was expecting "tracks" or something like that. Happed to be La Grange where some of the best locomotives were built.
