/ @hotrailproductions 
/ hotrailproductions456 • Canadian National Railroad • VERY LONG CN Freight Train w/mid-train hel...
👍FACEBOOK US! / hotrailproductions
🔵 TWEET US! / csxproductions
📙OUR BLOGGER! https://www.hotrailproductions.biz/
🟦OUR TUMBLR PAGE! https://www.tumblr.com/hotrailproduct...
🟨OUR PATREON! / hotrailproductions456
💠Contribute VIA PAYPAL! https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
💲RAILROAD INVESTMENTS💲:
💰 https://get.stash.com/markd8uyn 💰
💰 https://join.robinhood.com/marke833 💰
Take a brief walk through the railroad park and historic junction at Deshler, Ohio—long known as The Crossroads of the Baltimore & Ohio. Once a major hub of rail activity, the site remains a favorite among railfans, even as the iconic depot was sadly demolished just weeks before this visit.
Filmed on August 31, 2022.
Click here for a 1997 Walkthrough! ☛▶️ • Walkthrough of CSX Junction at Deshler, Oh...
Click here for a 2017 Walkthrough! ☛▶️ • Railroad Town Deshler, Ohio Walkthrough 10...
📺 How to Get More Video Views on Youtube! 🟥GET AMAZING FREE Tools For Your Youtube Channel To Get More Views: Tubebuddy (For GROWTH on Youtube): https://www.tubebuddy.com/MR77100 🟥TubeBuddy https://www.tubebuddy.com/pricing?a=M...
📼 OUR VIDEOS! / @hotrailproductions
Our Walkthrough Playlist! ☛▶️ • Exploring Walkerton, Indiana: A Tiny Town ...
📸 👉🏻 Endoscope Camera! https://geni.us/hTQkDD
📸Canon EOS R5 https://geni.us/CanonEOR
📸DSLR Alternatives https://geni.us/DLSRAlternate
🌞Solar Charger! https://geni.us/nvGYL
📱➡️📸Turn Your Phone Into A Camera! https://geni.us/PhoneCameraConver
#DeshlerOhio #RailroadPark #RailfanLife #TrainWatching #B&Orailroad #BaltimoreAndOhio #HistoricRailroads #RailroadJunction #TrainSpotting #RailsOfOhio #TrainsOfYouTube #TrainLovers #RailFanCommunity #RailroadPhotography #TrainVibes #WalkingTour #RailroadWalkthrough #TracksideAdventures #ExploreOhio #RailHistory
👍FACEBOOK US! / hotrailproductions
🔵 TWEET US! / csxproductions
📙OUR BLOGGER! https://www.hotrailproductions.biz/
🟦OUR TUMBLR PAGE! https://www.tumblr.com/hotrailproduct...
🟨OUR PATREON! / hotrailproductions456
💠Contribute VIA PAYPAL! https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
💲RAILROAD INVESTMENTS💲:
💰 https://get.stash.com/markd8uyn 💰
💰 https://join.robinhood.com/marke833 💰
Watch an eastbound Norfolk Southern container train roll through Wawaka, Indiana as it thunders across Albion Street on the legendary former New York Central mainline—famously known as “The Water Level Route.” 🚂 Power on the point is a striking mix of old and new: a pair of rebuilt GE C44-9W AC units flanking a modern Tier 4 GEVO, delivering intermodal freight with authority. Adding to the scene are the remaining vintage telephone poles lining the right-of-way, a nostalgic detail that continues to make this location a favorite among railroad photographers. A perfect blend of history, horsepower, and small-town railroading—this is modern Norfolk Southern action on a classic American mainline.
Filmed on 8/31/22
NS PLAYLIST! ▶️ • Norfolk Southern
📺 How to Get More Video Views on Youtube!
🟥GET AMAZING FREE Tools For Your Youtube Channel To Get More Views: Tubebuddy (For GROWTH on Youtube): https://www.tubebuddy.com/MR77100 🟥TubeBuddy https://www.tubebuddy.com/pricing?a=M...
📼 OUR VIDEOS! / @hotrailproductions
Norfolk Southern Container Train Thunder Across Albion Street | Water Level Route Historic NYC Mainline in Action: Norfolk Southern Freight Powers Through Wawaka C44-9Ws + GEVO Lead Norfolk Southern Container Train on Small-Town Street Modern Norfolk Southern Meets Classic NYC Route | Railfan Must-See!
#NorfolkSouthern #FreightTrainVideo #TrainSpotting #RailfanLife #ContainerTrain #ModernFreight #GEVO #C449W #WaterLevelRoute #HistoricRailroad #TrainPhotography #TrainVideo2025 #RailroadCrossing #SmallTownTrains #RailfanCommunity
Jim Vena says growth targets and UP-Norfolk Southern merger benefits exceeded initial estimates
OMAHA, Neb. — The 6,692-page merger application that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern submitted to federal regulators last week underscores the benefits of the first U.S. transcontinental merger, UP CEO Jim Vena says.
Vena came to Union Pacific as CEO in August 2023 with a transcon merger on his to-do list — and has touted the UP-NS combination as a win for customers, employees, the nation, and the economy.
The reams of data in the merger application back up those claims, Vena told Trains on Friday.
Vena read every page of the application. “What popped out was actually the strength of what’s possible for customers … with this combined railroad,” he says. “It really popped out.”
The experts UP and NS hired to delve into the growth potential of a railroad that can provide seamless, coast-to-coast service projected that within three years the combined system will take 2 million trucks off the highway annually and, in the process, bring 1.4 new million intermodal loads and 425,000 carloads to the expanded Union Pacific.
Those figures, Vena says, exceed the expectations that UP and NS had while in merger talks earlier this year. “When the experts looked at it … they showed us how it’s even better than what we thought,” he says.
Overall, the railroads are projecting 11% growth by year three of the merger, compared to the combined UP-NS traffic from the base year of 2023.
The application points out that interline merchandise traffic moving between 1,000 and 1,500 miles costs customers an average of 35% more than a comparable move involving just one railroad.
“What people miss is those handoffs — those times that you move traffic from one railroad to the other — cost you time and money,” Vena says.
The merger application includes 2,000 letters of support, some 500 of them from railroad customers. But BNSF Railway, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific Kansas City oppose the UP-NS combo, saying it’s not necessary, will hurt rail competition, and runs the risk of widespread integration-related service failures.
BNSF last month asked the Surface Transportation Board to review Union Pacific’s compliance with conditions that the board imposed to preserve competition after UP’s 1996 acquisition of Southern Pacific. BNSF argues that UP has sought to block its right to access customers who were once served by both UP and SP. [See “BNSF asks STB to review…,” Trains.com, Dec. 1, 2025]
If the STB were to take up the case, it would put UP in the awkward position of simultaneously arguing that the UP-NS merger enhances competition while also having to defend itself against allegations that it has engaged in anticompetitive behavior related to its last big merger.
Vena finds it hard to believe that the STB would opt to reopen a deal that was decided nearly three decades ago. “It’s just not gonna happen,” he says.
“I think it’s a tactic that they’re using,” Vena says of BNSF. “The facts aren’t there.”
Any railroad, Vena says, can go to the STB and say UP is not living up to its promises to maintain competition.
“And people have done that,” he says, noting that BNSF failed to convince the STB that it should be able to access a pair of UP-served quarries. BNSF has asked the board to reconsider in light of additional information it dug up related to the quarries it wants to serve in Texas and Arkansas. [See “BNSF questions Union Pacific’s compliance…,” Trains.com, Nov. 25, 2025.]
By and large, UP and BNSF get along well, Vena says. “Most things we agree on. We operate railroads together. We operate terminals together … And we do that every day,” he says. “And then, once in a while, we disagree with what some agreement said.”
Vena expected that other Class I railroads would oppose the UP-NS merger. “They know competitively they have a competitor that’s going to be able to provide a high level of service at a better price,” he says.
Rival railroads will have to drop their rates in order to compete with UP, Vena contends. “I feel sorry for them — and not,” he says.
Other railroads are free to seek their own mergers, Vena says. “They can afford it, especially Berkshire,” he says of BNSF owner Berkshire Hathaway, which has a cash stockpile of around $350 billion.
But Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett has said the company is not interested in pursuing a rail merger.
The STB is reviewing the UP-NS merger to ensure that it satisfies regulatory requirements. Once the application is accepted, the board will review the $85 billion deal under tougher rules adopted in 2001, which require mergers to enhance competition and be in the public interest.
The transcontinental railroad will produce a one-time surge in volume, but won’t fix the industry’s underlying growth struggle
Back in the day when railroads were squeezed under the thumb of the Interstate Commerce Commission and saddled with money-losing passenger service and dying branch lines, Class I railroads went through merger after merger to fend off financial collapse.
The goal of those combinations was to eliminate duplicate routes, yards, shops, and headquarters in the hopes of remaining in the black. They were mergers born from failure. And they worked, for a time.
Now along comes Union Pacific decades later with its proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern. No one would call either railroad a failure.
UP was the most profitable railroad last year, hauling in $24.3 billion in revenue, $9.7 billion in operating income, and returning $4.7 billion to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share buybacks. If anything, it’s an embarrassment of riches under CEO Jim Vena, who has lit a fire under a long-slumbering franchise.
NS is on the comeback trail after its disastrous 2023 hazardous materials derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Last year it beat back an activist investor, eased broader safety concerns, and weathered the departure of its chief executive under a cloud of scandal. Even after all this, NS in 2024 generated $4.1 billion in operating income on revenue of $12.1 billion.
And yet UP+NS is born from failure, too. No, it’s not a failure to turn a profit. It’s a failure to effectively compete with trucks. The railroads said as much in their preliminary proxy filing this week.
“The Norfolk Southern board … discussed industry trends and the difficulty Norfolk Southern and the industry has had, and risked continuing to have, in achieving significant growth on a standalone basis, including due to lower volumes because of truck market penetration, and the potential for a transcontinental merger to break through these challenges,” the regulatory filing says.
It’s an admission that Class I growth strategies have not borne fruit — and that they view a merger as the only way to win back freight from the highway.
Let’s assume regulators approve the historic deal — and that Omaha doesn’t screw it up with technology or operational snafus. A transcontinental Union Pacific should gain volume merely by offering true coast-to-coast, single-line service. Intermodal, for example, wins more market share when just one railroad handles the load. So it’s likely we’ll see a one-time growth spurt, perhaps even a sizeable one.
But then what? We’re right back where we started, unable to grow and bleeding volume to trucks.
The 52,215-mile UP — and an eventual, inevitable BNSF+CSX rival — will still be under intense investor pressure to maintain a low operating ratio, whether it’s Wall Street or Berkshire Hathaway applying the thumbscrews. Eliminating interchange in Chicago won’t fix this. And so transcon mergers simply kick the can down the road.
UP will harvest the low-hanging fruit, only to eventually run smack into the same obstacle railroads have been facing since volume peaked in 2006. Wall Street demands fat profit margins and doesn’t care whether railroads are growing or taking trucks off the highway.
And so a low operating ratio and growth are incompatible. An exception would be in Western Canada, where bulk traffic sprouts like weeds and can’t move to port without Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City locomotives on the point of unit trains of covered hoppers or tank cars.
In the truck-competitive U.S. of A., however, taxpayer-supported interstates parallel every major main line, and railroad volume growth has been anemic. A transcontinental merger does nothing to change the eventual outcome of trucks carrying the day — and the freight — if railroads continue with business as usual. UP+NS is a temporary Band-Aid, at best.
To truly flourish — that is, make a decent buck while hauling more tonnage — the U.S. Class I railroads need a new game plan. One that goes beyond mergers and tackles the service and reliability gap that keeps the truckers’ trailers full.
You can reach Bill Stephens at bybillstephens@gmail.com and follow him on LinkedIn and X @bybillstephens
🔵 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! / csxproductions
📙 CHECK OUT OUR BLOG! https://www.hotrailproductions.biz/
🟦 EXPLORE OUR TUMBLR PAGE! https://www.tumblr.com/hotrailproductions
📺 Discover How to Skyrocket Your Video Views on YouTube!
🟥 UNLOCK AMAZING FREE TOOLS For Your YouTube Channel To Boost Views: Tubebuddy (Your Growth Secret on YouTube): https://www.tubebuddy.com/MR77100
💠 SHOW YOUR SUPPORT VIA PAYPAL! https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=54AM4YW9QTFDYhosted_button_id=54AM4YW9QTFDY https://youtu.be/Ov2aYvEYuiE?si=Am7xZ1ix13esmYQl&t=20 =============================================================================== 💲RAILROAD INVESTMENTS💲:
💰 https://get.stash.com/markd8uyn 💰
💰 https://join.robinhood.com/marke833 💰
🌈 BRIGHTEN UP WITH COLOR DSLR FILTERS https://geni.us/colofilters
🌞 POWER UP WITH A Solar Charger! https://geni.us/nvGYL ============================================================================= Watch as a magnificent westbound BNSF stack train glides over the CN diamonds at Wellsboro. The power features a GEVO, Tier 4, and two GE C44-9Ws! =============================================================================== GEVO: 8104 Tier 4: 3873 C44-9W: 4858 C44-9W: 4180 Captured on 6.7.19
DIVE INTO OUR BNSF PLAYLIST! ☛▶️ https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaBqtxbEoDQZIR1feVHJizGgjuaOUhr4o&si=pGAWlasht6xCnKYQ
BNSF SD75I Warbonnet! ▶️https://youtu.be/Ov2aYvEYuiE?si=Am7xZ1ix13esmYQl&t=20 ============================================================================= 🏆 JOIN OUR PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/HOTRAILPRODUCTIONS456
📼 CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS! https://www.youtube.com/@HOTRAILProductions/videos
💵 SHOW SUPPORT VIA PAYPAL! https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&
📱➡️📸 TRANSFORM YOUR PHONE INTO A CAMERA! https://geni.us/PhoneCameraConver ======================================================================
00:00 Introduction 00:15 Locomotives 00:26 Double Stacks 01:51 Baretable 02:12 End of Train #BNSFRAILWAY #CSXT #RAILROADCROSSING #RAILROADJUNCTION #SHIPCONTAINERS, #BURLINGTONNORTHERNSANTAFE, #STACKTRAIN, #AMERICANFREIGHTTRAIN
👍 CONNECT WITH US ON FACEBOOK! / hotrailproductions 🔵 JOIN THE CONVERSATION O...
