It is multiple choice. Just curious. To me it was sad to see BN come to an end. As a railfan I also think any kind of merger is bad news.
Agreed, although I was also a big Santa Fe fan so it was bittersweet. Better than SP (or UP) getting SF, in my opinion, which would have happened. It is sad to see BN stuff slowly dwindling, even though there is still a lot left.
It was exciting to see a new RR formed. 0 0% It doesn't matter to me. 0 0% I am against any kind of RR merger.1 50.00% I hated to see BN die. 1 50.00% I hated to see ATSF die. 0 0% There were already too many mergers before this. 1 50.00% I am a UP fan and laughed at it. 1 50.00% I am interested in class II and shortlines-I didn't care. 0 0% 200%? mg:
It was exciting, but I hated to see the ATSF go. To me, at least visually, BNSF is more like BN then ATSF. Maybe not true corporately, so I have a hard time missing BN. SPSF I think would have made an interesting road.
Compared to the loss of the Santa Fe, didn't cry any tears when BN was gone. BN was only around 24 years compared to 100+ for Santa Fe. Miss the GN, NP, & SP&S more!
The joke with the ATSF guys was.... What did Kermit the frog say about the merger? BN green isn't easy. And the way they've practically wiped everything Santa Fe out... Heritage my butt:angry: Enough ranting...
Growing up a block from the Santa Fe main in Fresno I watched it all my life. I enjoyed seeing the solid blue and the the yellow bonnets and then on to some of the silver and red locos. However the merger gave the Santa Fe the influx of capital it needed to continue building the railroad. Had the merger not happened the Santa Fe my not have had the money to buy all the equipment needed to build there fleet for the TOFC and the double stacks. Remember BNSF stands for Big New Santa Fe. Shannon
SF was hurting for money? The Transcon is like the money maker of that railroad? They sure bought a lot of power in the late 80s early 90s for a road on the edge.
I like it. Both of my favorite RR's merged and we got a new paint scheme out of it. Well OK many of them but it is great they settled on one of them now. Although I do find myself sliding over to the other side now. I have started growing a fondness to the UP here in the past couple of years. especailly the old CNW line from Chicago to Omaha line through Iowa.
The only reason I like th eUP is because I'm sick to death of the heritage schemes. It's funny, but the Orange and green simply look ugly down in SoCal. I'm sure that doesn't make sense, but against the desert and palm trees, it just doesn't fit. And If I never see another Dash-9 it will be too soon.
The BN was interesting enough, being the result of the railroads that merged to form it. I was dissapointed the BN did not allow the Milwaukee to become part of the BN before the Milwaukee pulled the plug on the Pacific Extension. Now that the BN bought the Santa Fe, enough for me! Santa Fe guys took over, but everything was ruined for everybody, unless you were a stockholder. I don't even bother to take pictures anymore, even though the old GN/BN/BNSF mainline to Seattle passes about 100 yards from my front door. I'll take the '60 and '70s, thank you very much.
Someone posted BNSF means Big New Santa Fe. I thought it meant Burlington Northern Sadly Fell.:shade:
I kinda like the "Big New Super Frisco" saying. As my user name states, I am a BNSF FAN and think the merger has had it's ups and downs but is overall a good thing. If these two had not merged, we could have seen worse combinations and ended up with another tax payer funded railroad bailout program.
