Suppose you were as rich as Warren Buffett. Would you buy a Class I railroad. If so, which one? If not, why not? If you were to buy the Class I railroad of your choice, what do you see as its major problems and how would you solve them? Would you retain or overhaul the current management? What changes in operations, sales, equipment, employee relations, and RofW would you try to implement? How would you go about implementing these changes?
I would purchase UP. I would get rid of the current management and hire people that know what they are doing. Overhaul the operations staff so that the railraoad runs as efficiently as possible. Be MUCH more friendly to employees and railfans. Work with customers individually to give them the best rate possible and still make a good profit. Work to double track the entire railroad a little at a time to speed traffic.
I'd buy NS and then call Mr. B.....
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Me it would be the NS then get in contact with Strasburg and Steamtown and say have 6 projects coming your way money is no object. the Last Y-6b along with 611 1218 then for the Pennsy fans the last M1-a then tell the Friends of 765 she can run on her home tracks again as part of the Steam Program. The last one is one of the Big Boys that is sitting around. That way I can go to the UP and say we have the biggest thing and ours is still better. Then use them in Regular service hauling Freight and of course Excursions. The Y6 would be used to haul coal when the customer wanted a show. Can you imagine the Tree huggers face when that beast showed up on the point of the train.
I would take CSX in the blink of an eye. Other than rename it The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company and set up a heritage program, leave it to the current management to handle the day to day running,
Tom
COAST LINE FOREVER
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If I were as rich as Warren Buffet I'd probably also be as smart as Warren Buffet. So of course I would apply the same reasoning and research. And therefore end up buying BNSF for the same reasons he did. If I were to be competing with him, then I'd have to buy UP. If I were to be complimentary to him, then its a choice of CSX or NS for east coast traffic. If it were to be supplimentry, then KCS or CN for the north-south traffic. If I wanted to do a complete run around all of them, I'd buy CP for the coast to coast and find a friend in KCS.
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Matt Rose did say that being owned by Berkshire Hathaway has relieved mgt from having to explain in gory detail the trade-off between short term results and long term strategy. It looks like BNSF has more freedom to take on some longer term investment strategy risk under Berkshire Hathaway.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Don is right on the money. Go out and buy your own railroad with your cash.
It doesnt have to be a large purchase. Explore the options of a direct stock purchase from the company, avoiding a brokerage account.
Ed
Understand that Buffet is the sole stockholder of BNSF. Going out and buying stock in a railroad is not owning the railroad in the same way unless you buy all the stock. Dave's question is a great question and the answers already are revealing and I am sure more answers and revelations are on the way. BNSF management now has to answer only to Warren Buffet and Hathaway and not to thousands of shareholders or make public anything not so required by the STB.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
edbenton Me it would be the NS then get in contact with Strasburg and Steamtown and say have 6 projects coming your way money is no object. the Last Y-6b along with 611 1218 then for the Pennsy fans the last M1-a then tell the Friends of 765 she can run on her home tracks again as part of the Steam Program. The last one is one of the Big Boys that is sitting around. That way I can go to the UP and say we have the biggest thing and ours is still better. Then use them in Regular service hauling Freight and of course Excursions. The Y6 would be used to haul coal when the customer wanted a show. Can you imagine the Tree huggers face when that beast showed up on the point of the train.
I know NS has some wide clearances but would a 4-8-8-4 even be able to operate on their lines? I read a quote from the head of UP's Steam program awhile back where he claimed that a restored Big Boy would only be able to run on a small part of their system...
But if you're going to go whole hog (and spend a few billion improving clearances) you should buy the Alleghany from the Henry Ford Museum and run it doubleheaded with the Big Boy..
I doubt the Tree Huggers would care unless you bought a fleet of ACE3000's from Ross Rowland...
I'd buy Berkshire Hathaway and get BNSF as part of the deal..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
i would buy CN or CP...I'm Canadian so that makes most sense to me. Besides those two roads are as good as any.
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
Seeing that Warren Buffett already 'dumped' his NS and UP stock, I don't think so. The only richer person in the country, Bill Gates, owns a big stake in CN, but I don't like its being headquartered in Montreal. I can't afford to buy an entire 'Class I', so I would need a couple of silent partners. CP is attractive, headquartered a short drive from me. There, I would repaint every locomotive into the maroon-grey-yellow scheme and put the "Beaver Shield" back on the noses. Other than that, I'd leave management alone. NS? Much the same, but with a pleasing color scheme. I do like the idea of re-naming CSX to "Atlantic Coast Line", but that management would have to go. KCS/KCSM is cool, but is going to be gobbled up shortly, methinks. Hungry, CP? UP is way off my list, until they can run Amtrakers on time. Perhaps the best bet would be to buy a 'Class II', or two, and go courting...
Hays
I'd buy CN and overhaul their customer service department. I would have CN run the same way WC did and have bonuses go to crews moreso than the management who simply doesn't need extra money.
Then I'd buy 5949 from HLCX and rstore it to CNW 8007
Or maybe I'd buy CSX and tell their maintenance department to WAKE UP! I would also see to it that they stop backing locomotives into the turntable pit at cumberland twice a year
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
I’d buy NS. I’d keep the management. I’d restore some Southern 4-6-2 Pacific‘s, and some N&W Class Y Mallys, and then start up a community outreach program with the steamers. I‘d also run them on some of the coal trains in the West Virginia area. I think it would be cool to own the railroad that runs though my hometown.
We can only dream….
Justin
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
My wife tells me I am not good with my money, so I'm buying Amtrak! (Questionable Class 1) I would concentrate on corridor type service, better the relationship with host railroads and improve RofW to accomodate both passenger and freight. ON TIME PERFORMANCE is what the customer wants, so I would have to assure that takes place. Maintain affordable fares and blitz the public with advertising.
Trains cannot compete with airlines when it comes to long distance travel, therefore, overnight trains will change destinations and services to target vacationing families and the casual traveler. People who travel for business purposes, long distance trains are not what they are looking for. As to management, hire railroad people, not political hacks. Get people who know the business of business, the business of railroads and be sure to have a government liason to keep those tax dollars coming my way.
Someone, please wake me up. Please!!!
BNSFwatcher Seeing that Warren Buffett already 'dumped' his NS and UP stock, I don't think so.
Seeing that Warren Buffett already 'dumped' his NS and UP stock, I don't think so.
Actually I believe he said he did that so as not to raise questions of sincerety and conflicts in his quest for BNSF. He wanted to be clear of any and all other railroad properties so as not to start rumors and resulting ecnomomic problems (revolting stockholders...is that an adjective or adverb?) and other inquiries which would slow down the process.
I'd buy CSX and stop ALL spending for upkeep and maintenance, skimming off the resulting savings as dividends, then years later just as everything is falling apart, I'd go to the government, pitch my case that CSX was "too big to fail" and apply for $$billions$$ in loans and grants earmarked to put humpty dumpty back together again, ....the proceeds of which I'd redirect to buying NS stock with,.. instead.
from there it'd be pretty much "smooth sailing"
K4sPRR My wife tells me I am not good with my money, so I'm buying Amtrak! (Questionable Class 1) Someone, please wake me up. Please!!!
My wife tells me I am not good with my money, so I'm buying Amtrak! (Questionable Class 1) Someone, please wake me up. Please!!!
In reality, given enough money, it might not be a bad buy. Taking it out of the political arena so that there can be a real long range capital and operating plan is what it needs, taking it away from what probably is hindering passenger rail travel in this country the most. Since politics and politicians are unstable in that their perspective, guidence, and administration is uneven, temporary, and subject to a real minute change of mind, a long term industrialist's investment and ownership might actually provide "service" instead of just running passenger trains to appease Congress!
coborn35Isnt that what is happening already?
If you are referring to Amtrak, no, it is political and operates at the whims (and whimsy) of Congress with no long term planning for capital or operations. And except on it owned tracks, it is also at the mercy of private railroads whose track it must rent, lease or get right on. Perhaps a capital investor with limitless sources of money could do things the government can't. This is all conjecture, hypothesis, dreaming, based on the question posed and not based on reality, of course.
Some you replied with the inclusion of "I'd dump the management." Wouldn't that result in instantaneous meltdown?
Not if I bought UP. A REAL management team would be waiting at the door for the old guy to get out. He would have 15 minutes to vacate his office,
igoldbergNot if I bought UP. A REAL management team would be waiting at the door for the old guy to get out. He would have 15 minutes to vacate his office,
Interesting business plans here.
If anybody makes an offer to buy out, I will put up my shares-for cash. I figure that a few years down the road it will be necessary to go public and I'll be able to pick up new shares at about a dime on the dollar.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
Jeaton, your analysis parallels mine. I didn't expect most of the replies to favor running the railroad simply to facilitate the maximum number of wonderful photo opportunities. I thought most people would be interested in using such an opportunity to increase their wealth and that of the Nation. But I will comment on "firing the management and having a new one waiting at the door." Every population has good and bad people. Even the class I with the worst managements, and I won;t pick it, still has some excellent people and that is why the thing still runs and makes money and keeps most of its shippers. If I were to buy a class I and wished to really change the management.
1. I would not announce that fact in advance. I would want people to continue working to the best of their abilitiy to avoid any meltdown of service anywhere.
2. I would start a program of decentalizaton. Employees would be told safety first means just that. If a rule book rule has to be violated to prevent a fire, save a life or prevent and injury, safety is first and always. So much for the case of the UP train caught with a flaming journal over a creosoted timber trestle. Lucky there wasn't a forest fire and just the bridge burned out. I would tell them not to communicate if they can solve a problem on their own within the rules. The famouse case of the one of the two last Indiana High Speeds colliding with the line car with loss of life because the Super thought the operator of the high speed needed help when he was simply reporting a broken trolley rope that he fixed and then resumed his trip would have been avoided if an unnecessary phone call had not been made. If you need something from the Dispatcher, contact him. Otherwise leave him alone. This philosophy would be at the next level as well. And the level above that. So if I find a top manager is unproductive, and should be asked to leave, the people under him will already be prepared to manage their affairs until the new man settles in and understands his responsibilities.
3. I would set up a suggestion system open to all employees and read the suggestions carefully.
4. I would then personally review each top official, get their ideas on how improvements can be made, review past performance, and then and only then decide who should go and who should stay.
Instead of buying a class 1, I would take a look at a very good shortline....something which I could manage. It would need to have access to more than one class 1, have a steady source of traffic, both inbound and outbound and potential for growth.
Other than that, a railroad such as Sandersville Railroad would work quite nicely.
ed
Just me, in order: NS, BNSF, CN, UP, CSX. Now to find enough money, do you think I can get a raise in my Retirement Check?
Don U. TCA 73-5735
If there is truly a more profitable way to provide transportation service to customers using a railway, I would spend dough hiring the wisest marketing people and wisest operational people around. By definition, each would value the perspectives of the others. As a team, they would identify the most lucrative (overall) service opportunities, and bring them into existence. Doesn't matter which railroad. Done dreaming.
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