BN and GTW merger

[NILE]

I heard last week at one point the BN and GTW were considering merging.  Does anyone have any information about this?  I remeber BNSF and CN talked about a merger, and that fell through.  This is very interesting to me as I model both railroads in HO scale.  

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Here is what happened.

Start with the Milwaukee Road. MILW had financial problems in the 1970's, and reorganized into a "core" system which resulted in abandoning or selling its western lines. The remaining MILW encompassed Chicago, St, Paul, Duluth, Omaha, and Kansas City. ...  MILW was still bankrupt in the mid 1980's. Grand Trunk Corporation entered into an agreement with the trustee to purchase the MILW. ..... C&NW went to court to re-open negotiations. C&NW made an offer. Soo Line also made an offer. The trustee accepted Soo's offer. The Soo bought MILW in about 1985. Soo sold much of its former lines to a new company called Wisconsin Central which became a railroad company running from Duluth to Chicago.

Grand Trunk Corporation already owned Grand Trunk Western (GTW), Duluth Winnipeg and Pacific (DWP), and Central Vermont (CV). GTC entered into an agreement with Burlington Northern to coordinate service. The agreement included joint marketing efforts to sell the coordinated service to shippers. Locomotives were pooled between CN, DWP. GTW, and BN. Trains would run from western Canada via CN-DWP-BN to Chicago and connections. Trains would run from eastern Canada via CN-GTW-BN to points beyond.

There never was a merger considered between GTC and BN. However, CN and BNSF later did have discussions about a merger, but that never went far.

 

[jrbernier]

  BN & CN/GTW/DWP had a 'haulage' agreement; entire CN trains were moved from Duluth/Superior to Chicago by BN.    There was a defined limit to the number of trains(which I cannot remember).  For the most part these trains were all CN engines/cars and were forwarded to the GTW in Chicago(sort of like a unit train).

  When the agreement came up for re-negotiation, CN courted WC to move the trains and complained to BN that they had to cut their charges.  BN held firm and the traffic was moved to WC.  CN then bought WC and had their own through route between Superior, WI and Chicago, IL.

  At times in the past years, CN has courted BN/BNSF about a possible merger - Nothing ever really came of it.  BNSF is now privately owned and is out of the merger picture for the time being.

Jim

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Jim ... Thanks for your insights. .... Also, the Wisconsin Central had a shorter route to Chicago from Duluth than was the case with BN. Therefore, WC was the least costly route.

I am now recalling intermodal business. GTW owned and operated an intermodal terminal in Chicago and Detroit, and it provided piggyback service between those cities. Eventually, the 300 mile haul became less profitable. In the mid-1980's, the Chicago intermodal terminal was used mostly for CN's business to and from eastern Canada. Next, GTW entered into an agreemnt with BN for BN intermodal trains to use the Detroit terminal. BN intermodal trains then moved across Michigan on the GTW to Detroit.

Also, BN coal trains moved on the GTW to Michigan utilities from western coal mines. BN locomotives ran through to Detroit for this business.

 

 

[jrbernier]

Garry,

  The original WC route that WC Ltd picked up from the Soo was not in too bad of shape and was 'shorter' that the BN route, but the grade out of Superior to Hillcrest was rather rough.  Eventually WC Ltd bought the old CMO(C&NW) line out of Superior and 'stitched' together the best of the two routes(a connection near Gordon, WI connect the two lines).  IIRC, there were 4 crew districts on the route(I think it is now 3).  BNSF has 3 crew districts.  Once track/signal upgrading was completed, the WC Ltd route became the way to go, and the CN traffic moved over to it.  Interestingly, the old WC Nemadji river bridge is still in use.  BN retired their crossing, built new connections and uses the old WC structure now.  The approaches to the BN(GN) bridge had rather poor footing and were always a maintenance headache through the years.

Jim

[cv_acr]

Recall also that CN directly owns GTW, so any BN-GTW merger would have only been possible if CN sold the GTW to BN.