Burlington Northern: Portrait of a Railroad (1973) Part 1

[@snickpickle]

I would love to see BNSF open their vaults again, and redo these onto DVD. VHS was great for its time, but these are now priceless for their history. Thanks for posting this -- even though it was 13 years ago, as of 2020!

[@Doobie1975]

God I sure miss the old Burlington Northern Railroad, they remind me of the old days.

[@anb7408]

Wow, the BN was only 3 years old when this video was made!

[@seankolker]

when i started at BNSF 4 years ago a training cordinator I had said "be glad train orders are gone" "the rule book could fit in your back pocket" and several other things-as the rest of the old heads,sounds like I missed the best days of the job,but this video was 6 years before my time too,great video.

[@Lvfd416]

@ Jhachman He's handing up orders to the crew on the head end and the caboose. Before the days of on board computers, this was how train orders were delivered, especially in places where radio reception was questionable. The technique dates to the steam era, when orders were received via telegraph at the station, written down, then passed to the train crew. The hoop allows the crew to pick up orders "on the fly", rather than having to stop the train and go into the station.

[@AndrewNeilFalconer]

A high-definition Digital Video Disc version would be a great idea for all these BN movies.

[@progx8679]

I hope every railfan can thank and appreciate the great roads before the merger, Great Northern / Northern Pacific / Chicago, Burlington & Quincy / Spokane, Portland & Seattle for running their rails well and having the good fortune to be in profitable area's so that with the merger BN became the giant it was and still is with BNSF ! Now how about some retro RR pride like NS had and paint up some old school liveries like NS did !!!!

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

Good fortune and luck had little to do with the creation of BN. It was the realization of James J Hill’s dream that he achieved through study, hard work and more hard work. Nobody ever worked harder at realizing a dream than Hill did. It wasn’t “good fortune” to be in a “profitable area.” It was the application of Hill’s study, hard work and capital that ultimately created BN. Hill made his own fortune by gambling everything he had on a small bankrupt railroad and through hard work and vision turned it into a profitable enterprise. Then he took another huge gamble and built a railroad into the northwest through vast areas with no traffic and no settlers-he had to encourage the farms and businesses that would feed traffic to his railroad. He didn’t use any government help; unlike other transcons, he didn’t take or sell any land grants. Through even more risks with stocks, he gained influence in the NP and CB&Q. His first merger attempt at what would eventually become Burlington Northern was called The Northern Securities Company. It was a holding company where the wealthiest stockholders of GN, NP, CB&Q and even the UP could safely park their stocks to shield them against speculation and cornering, such as the one the NP had just been through. The US Supreme Court shot it down as people were frightened that the wealthy were buying up the country. Hill bided his time by strengthening the Great Northern into the first-class efficient railroad it became. He died in the spring of 1916 without seeing completion of the 8-mile long Cascade Tunnel or the formation of what would become Burlington Northern. In reality, the two BN merger attempts were completely different. Northern Securities reflected the machinations of the wealthy while BN was a rationalization of two great railroads and one good one, the purpose being to consolidate properties-thereby increasing efficiencies, to tighten the hold on business and create more single- line traffic but especially to throttle the UP and the Milwaukee Road. BN killed what had always been a marginal CMSt.P&P and blunted any significant UP expansion in the northwest. All of this was due to Hill’s work ethic, his vision and business acumen. He created his own fortune and he used the resources present in the northwest to open up the country and create the economic conditions that allowed the northern-tier states to grow and thrive. Hill would undoubtedly thumb his nose at your railfan request, probably stating that the money should be used to improve the property or increase stockholder earnings. Hill’s legacy lives on at BNSF; Warren Buffet said so with his dollars.

[@cliffsaxon5493]

Don't Forget The St. Louis San Francisco Railroad Or The Frisco.

[@eric719]

The guy loading the covered hopper is at Cashup, in the Palouse. That's on an old GN branch that was abandoned in 1980.

[@FarmerSteveO]

+eric719 The gentleman loading the hopper car's name was Maynard Busch, he was a warehouseman for Colfax Grain Growers for years and ran the Cashup and Thornton elevators. Boy how time has changed things!

[@bridgettrandolph684]

I wish they still did Railroads like that

[@Catsclawful]

My father and grandfather worked their whole lives from Burlington Northern.

[@NSHorseheadSD70]

He's handing up train orders to the conductor on the head end and the brakeman on the caboose.

[@flyingjay49]

In my home town of Superior Wi..Burlington Northern use to have open houses for the public to see the operations of there company back in the late 80s and mid 90s. do think the BNSF would do that now days?

[@BaronvonBavert]

great video, thanks for sharing

[@mccoy79productions66]

cool!

[@icom1020]

The opening shots of the trains on the steel trestles are on the former SP&S near Kahlotus WA

[@Zebrails]

Train Orders were passed to the Fireman in the locomotive, and then to the Conductor in the Caboose. This is shown as: "On the Fly" The train didn't need to stop to get their orders. It's merely a hoop with string attached to the orders. The orders may contain updated information towards the route, traffic, and/or condition of the tracks ahead. Perhaps one or a few cars need to be set out or picked up. The conductor and engineer need to know what to expect.

[@ONEWHOKNOWS.]

This was in an era pre-1987 before track warrants existed. Train Orders were also an engine or trains authority to be out on the mainline. Must have authority from Train Dispatcher to be out there.

[@Zebrails]

aha! I thought the lowered set of headlights looked a bit familiar!

[@railfanalways]

excellent video!!!!!

[@drum3433]

Heck, I can't even get my conductor to stay awake let alone pay attention!

[@SpecificationR]

nice! thanks for sharing

[@mafarnz]

I'm fairly cretin that they were showing grain coming out of Colfax WA. that's right around where I live in Moscow. Wish that kinda traffic moved through there now.

[@FarmerSteveO]

Matt, the footage of the gentleman loading the hopper car is at Cashup, on the old GN line. His name was Maynard Busch, he worked for Colfax Grain Growers for years.

[@fiatman71]

Great shots of the former SP&S!!! A tragedy they abandoned that route in favor of the lousy NP Providence hill line

[@shinkansen1]

Burlington Northern, I was five years old when they merged with Santa Fe. Back then green was my favorite color. I wish I could have seen those green giants in person.

[@snickpickle]

It's funny you should say that. I was 8 when the original Hill Lines (Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and Spokane, Portland & Seattle) merged to become the BN. I was resentful of the fact that the BN couldn't wait to cover over the old paint schemes so quickly, even though it took 7 years to do so for the locomotive fleet. Once the BNSF merger happened, they have been slower to repaint everything -- which I am grateful for. But I do (finally) find myself nostalgic for the BN and the BN green. I also miss the Grinstein colors -- such a nice change from the BN green (I also welcomed the "whiteface" scheme).

[@timpriddy349]

Look..........Its the America I missed out on

[@lolfunnycp]

so many center flow hoppers yay

[@josephhoppe6984]

Of course, ALL the rolling stock in the BN introduction train HAS to be BN.

[@thairatcatcher]

+Railfanning Michigan Of course. If you are General Motors, you don't want a bunch of Fords or Dodges running through your ads do you?

[@josephhoppe6984]

Yeah I know I was just joking

[@turbo1431]

@hallsflat yes, it is

[@sirmetaladon]

I love how there's probably a bunch of Ex-Frisco employees that watched this at one time or another and got extremely salty because the BN treated them terribly (compared to the Frisco, the BN was still leagues better than UP)

[@nonstopmaximum2141]

If only the BNSF were like this...

[@mafarnz]

Too bad that line is gone now.

[@victor78832]

1:56 music name?

[@CadenWood]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/maLKmIGjZq6qpq8

[@gailmckenzie8291]

Awesome 💚 👌 👏 👍

[@SantaFe19484]

Nice video!!!!

[@phillyfan-182]

id sure like to work on a railroad someday

[@CassioSerra]

Awesome!!

[@pbatommy]

@graf0rlov Please contact me about the soundtrack. It's awesome music, especially at the end.

[@thornimation5492]

I have no idea what the name of soundtrack is, but it certainly sounds like it belongs to these 2 genres: country rock and blues rock. In fact, I think Blues Rock originated in the mid-1960s, but only started becoming popular in the mainstream in the early 70s, which 1973 fits into.

[@CadenWood]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/maLKmIGjZq6qpq8

[@TheSuperTenor]

Burlington Northern: Nobody fucks with them.

[@Bonky-wonky]

@hallsflat no, check swamploggers on discovery channel..

[@soxlosenow]

@hallsflat When half of the corporations in the world treat their employees like crap.. Its hard for a lot of people to really care.

[@fyadcorp]

No dude, they still do open houses for employees and their families.

[@talamore4life]

sad thing is half these people retired now or the rest or dead.....i wish people would act like this

[@airplanebuilderman]

I'd love to work for the rail road. But, I can't cause I'm color blind :-(

[@ortingdude]

Orie-gone...must be the 51st state!

[@brucetharpe762]

BUT THIS WOULD BE BETTER WITH GREAT NORTHERN IF THEY DID NOT MERGE!

[@rameshdhanushka5422]

I\'m not sure but ,if anyone else trying to find out how to apply for a railroad job try Tarbetti Rail Work Tutor (just google it ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my mate got excellent success with it.