Although they're great railroads, BNSF and CSX would probably benefit by renaming themselves...even borrowing from their past would be a vast improvment. Santa Fe sounds alot better than BNSF...likewise Chessie or even Clinchfield beats CSX. What do others think?
Follow the Golden Rule of Naming.....
If you have the Gold you can name it anything you want.....
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I have the gold...a little bit of it anyway...nobody has all the gold or even a big chunk of it unless you're Warren Buffett.
These companies invest in new paint schemes yet do nothing about their bland names...
Ulrich wrote: I have the gold...a little bit of it anyway...nobody has all the gold or even a big chunk of it unless you're Warren Buffett. These companies invest in new paint schemes yet do nothing about their bland names...
And BNSF may even be worse -- a passel of abbreviations and an orange "wedge." Anyone who didn't know RR'ing could be excused for thinking BNSF is a banking chain (WaMu, BoA), or an advertising firm (BBDO), some high-tech outfit (TRW); maybe even an airline (KLM). Ouch!
Besides, even though I admire the company tremendously I can't help thinking "Buy Norfolk Southern Fast!"
I dunno. There's a few companies that use initials that haven't done badly.
What about IBM, which has become one of the strongest brands in the world over the last 50 years?
Or BMW?
3M
A&W
AT&T
CBS, NBC and ABC
DKNY
ESPN
TBS
PGA
QVC
JVC
KFC
NFL
NBA
NCR
RCA
SAAB
STP
Plus, many of them do it because their name doubles as their stock market symbol.
Ulrich wrote: Although they're great railroads, BNSF and CSX would probably benefit by renaming themselves...even borrowing from their past would be a vast improvment. Santa Fe sounds alot better than BNSF...likewise Chessie or even Clinchfield beats CSX. What do others think?
Burlington Route sounds better than Santa Fe
Just wait someone else will chime in and say call them Great Northern
Poppa_Zit wrote: Ulrich wrote: I have the gold...a little bit of it anyway...nobody has all the gold or even a big chunk of it unless you're Warren Buffett. These companies invest in new paint schemes yet do nothing about their bland names... I dunno. There's a few companies that use initials that haven't done badly.What about IBM, which has become one of the strongest brands in the world over the last 50 years? International Business MachinesOr BMW? Bavarian Motor Works3M Minnesota Mining and ManufacturingA&W dunno....AT&T American Telephone and TelegraphCBS, NBC and ABC Columbia Broadcasting System, National Broadcasting Corp, American Broadcasting CorpDKNY Donna Karan New YorkESPN I forget....TBS Turner Broadcasting SystemPGA Professional Golfers AssociationQVC Got me here....JVC And here...KFC Kentucky Fried ChickenNFL National Football LeagueNBA National Basketball AssociationNCR National Cash RegisterRCA Recording Company of America (IIRC)SAAB Actually Saab is correct - it's not initials, it's the name.STP Been around so long I'm not sure what it means.Plus, many of them do it because their name doubles as their stock market symbol.
What about IBM, which has become one of the strongest brands in the world over the last 50 years? International Business Machines
Or BMW? Bavarian Motor Works
3M Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
A&W dunno....
AT&T American Telephone and Telegraph
CBS, NBC and ABC Columbia Broadcasting System, National Broadcasting Corp, American Broadcasting Corp
DKNY Donna Karan New York
ESPN I forget....
TBS Turner Broadcasting System
PGA Professional Golfers Association
QVC Got me here....
JVC And here...
KFC Kentucky Fried Chicken
NFL National Football League
NBA National Basketball Association
NCR National Cash Register
RCA Recording Company of America (IIRC)
SAAB Actually Saab is correct - it's not initials, it's the name.
STP Been around so long I'm not sure what it means.
Point is, the letter combinations are no different than RR reporting marks. Pretty much everyone on the forum knows what NYC, PRR, ACL, ATSF, SP, GN, etc mean - they are simply the initials of the railroad in question, as is the case with most of the initials listed above.
One of the first "created" names of recent time was Exxon - the word didn't exist before, and is simply the best looking combination of letters that met the needs of the company.
One problem with descriptive names for today's railroads is that they cover pretty wide areas, unlike the olden days when they could use a couple of endpoints, and perhaps a dream, (Podunk, Potter Center, and Pacific). I dreamed up a fictional road some years ago - a grandiose model I would like to have built - the name of which would have worked for Conrail, but not for any of the current railroads. My imaginary road was the America NorthEastern (ANE).
Name recognition doesn't seem to be a high priority any more. The railroads have plenty of business, and the guy waiting at the railroad crossing probably isn't going to make a shipping decision based on a boxcar going by that says "Santa Fe - All the Way" or "Be Specific - Ship Union Pacific."
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
....I wonder about that....What {we}, see passing at the RR crossing, in my opinion does have a way of filtering into the business system.
Quentin
A&W -- Allen and Wright, the names of the inventor and his business partner. It would also make a great railroad name: Atlantic & Western.
dd
RCA = Radio Corporation of America
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
don't worry:
soon enough CSX will be pronounced Union Pacific...
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
SAAB - Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Limited)
JVC - Victor Company of Japan
ESPN - Entertainment and Sports Programming Network
QVC - Quality, Value, Convenience
STP - Scientifically Treated Petroleum
RCA - Radio Corportion of America
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
If I remember rightly, the Radio Corporation of America had changed its name to RCA before GE bought it. It had been originally created and owned by GE and Westinghouse to oversee the fledgling radio business. was 'liberated' by congress, and became an independent company owning other businesses like NBC radio and television..
Alas, it is no longer independent nowadays, being owned by the French company Thomson.
The color system being replaced by HDTV was developed by RCA in opposition to the CBS system that employed a color wheel and completely incompatible with the b&w tv sets of that time, like 405 lines vs 525, bandwidth, etc.
Art
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
....Art: I have a photo of one of the prototype "Color" sets with the mechanical wheel that was in the CBS color system.
One can enter "antique Television sets", into a search engine and find a photo of one on the internet.
...............Ajax Railroad
Murphy Siding wrote: wut R U talkin bout? now that so mny ppl text, Y waist all the time tpng the names. U cn just type the letters. Burlington Northern Santa Fe>>>>BNSF>>>> or BN for short.
Semper Vaporo wrote: RCA = Radio Corporation of America
Thanks - pulling some of them from way back in memory....
tree68 wrote: Semper Vaporo wrote: RCA = Radio Corporation of AmericaThanks - pulling some of them from way back in memory....
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Well, one railroad that goes against the trend is the CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY....formerly known as CP Rail or just CP or the CPR.
Alot of the shortlines also have NAMES as opposed to just a bunch of letters. I guess if CSX and BNSF ever do merge they may call themselves CSXBNSF..."the alphabet route". C'mon guys...get rid of BNSF and call yourselves SANTA FE RAILROAD...and CSX...bring back the CHESSIE... You guys (BNSF, CSX) spent alot on snazzy new paint schemes just to throw a bunch of letters on there (BORING) when you should be coming up with some cool names or at least something that reflects your past.. At LEAST give us a flippin vowel!
I think I hear the Waaahmbulance coming...
Go buy your own railroad, then you can give it some long name that only a bunch of people on some internet forum really care about.
zugmann wrote: I think I hear the Waaahmbulance coming...Go buy your own railroad, then you can give it some long name that only a bunch of people on some internet forum really care about.
Same people who like the name Acela. There aint no such a thing as an Acela.
This thread is nothing more than a phoamers fantasy.
Time to get back to reality y'all. There's a railroad to run.
tatans wrote:How about "Ernies Railroad" or "Railroad # 4", try "trains 'r' us"----- Tree 68, KFC means KFC not Kentucky Fried Chicken, you cannot use the word Kentucky in any advertising.
Actually, KFC has gone back to being called Kentucky Fried Chicken. The stores with just the initials are having the signs replace with ones bearing the full name of the company. People will still call Kentucky Fried Chicken "KFC" out of simplicity, much the same way Federal Express is called FedEx, or Trailer Train is TTX. What all three companies have in common is that they changed their formal names to their nicknames, or in the case of Trailer Train, to its reporting marks.
Not a phoamers fantasy Bunyon...just an interested railfan...
Zugmann...been there done that..thx...
Ulrich wrote:Not a phoamers fantasy Bunyon...just an interested railfan...Zugmann...been there done that..thx...
Interested railfan....phoamer.....same/same.
And its Runyon....mit an "R"..........
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