Does anyone have a complete list of all the States in which Burlington Northern operated, at their peak? Plus at least two Canadian (BC and Manitoba) Provinces..... Anyhow, this time frame would probably be just after the Frisco merger.
25 states and 2 Canadian provinces USA - 25 Washington Oregon California Idaho Montana Wyoming Colorado New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Kansas Nebraska South Dakota North Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Illinois Missouri Arkansas Kentucky Tennessee Mississippi Alabama Florida Canada - 2 British Columbia Manitoba Don't think I missed any.
Thanks! FYI- This is what I am just beginning to construct. It will be a BIG project! Will definitely take a while to complete: https://train-orders.com/TOUR/B/BNR/BNR.html
I learned that those parallel branches and others like them elsewhere in the midwest were built so that farmers would not be more than a day's wagon ride to a railhead. I can't recall if state regulators pressed for this or if the railroads thought it was a good idea, but ND is a poster child for it.
While the lines are displayed as BN - suspect they were originally laid out with the late 19th Century's 'railroad mania' and were accumulated between both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific as their feeder lines. Personally, I would find it more interesting if that BN map, was identified by the Fallen Flag carriers that show up on the map.
Some of that seeming duplication in ND, (and vicinity), was caused by none other than Hill himself. In places where he was there first, and alone, he enjoyed being the sole way for goods both shipped in and shipped out. He was known for really sticking it ($$$ costs) to people. This caused folks to lobby other companies to come in and compete.
If the map had shown the Santa Fe at that time, southern Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas would look the same. Those branches could pay for themselves before the truck replaced the horse and wagon. Yes, especially where the road had a monopoly, before the ICC popped up. It's interesting to look at the roads that didn't do that strategy. As the twentieth century progressed, the Lehigh and New England in the east, and the Frisco on the plains, increasingly looked wise to have skipped most of that and primarily concentrated on getting places far away.
Correct--the Hill empire deliberately expanded into the prairies to gather wheat and other crops, and also invested in agriculture in a number of ways in NoDak. Look for a complete story in the June 2023 edition of Railfan & Railroad!
About 8 pages worth of history and images! I proofed the text and captions a week ago, it should have gone to print last Friday, so the only thing I want to know is if one of my images made the cover or not.
I think The Grange also became a force to bring order to rail ratemaking. Hill must have been quite something. Many of us have read his quote proclaiming that "The passenger train is like the male teat - neither useful nor ornamental".