Leaders Count: The Story of the Bnsf Railway

Essential reading for anyone interested in rail history and in the predecessor companies of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway in particular. Very highly recommended, but with some slow chapters.

Once upon a time, there were dozens of so-called "class one" railroads across the American continent, wielding massive political power and reshaping the nation. Today, most of those companies are gone, thanks to a corporate consolidation craze that began prior to World War One and continues today. In the 21st century American west, there are now only two major railroads: Union Pacific, and the BNSF Railway. Leaders Count is the "official" corporate history of BNSF, published under contract by them and distributed by Texas A & M University. The book divides into roughly three sections. The first deals with the history of the BN heritage companies through the 19th and early 20th centuries. The second portion deals with regulation, the forces leading up to the BN merger, and the early BN period. The last segment covers the BNSF railway, from formation through to the present. The book has a reputation of being a hard hitting self-examination of the company, it's successes, and it's mistakes. By-and-large, Kaufman does a decent job of telling the corporate history, but from the beginning there is an undercurrent of BNSF and its heritage roads being on the side of angels, and rival companies such as Union Pacific (UP) being less than stellar. While there is some truth to UP having a greater number of scandals in its past, BNSF's heritage companies were hardly innocent either, especially the Northern Pacific. Minor factual errors in the book make me question how much primary source research Kaufman actually did. Another example of his lack of deep research is his knee-jerk acceptance of conventional wisdom, especially regarding the demise of the Milwaukee's Pacific Extension. The segments dealing with regulation tend to be wonkish, but the segments regarding the creation of BNSF predecessor Burlington Northern are as good as anything I've seen in print on the subject yet. The newer portions of the book cover the creation of BNSF well, but tend to gloss over differences between BNSF previous leaders such as Rob Krebs and Gerald Grinstein. It's clear this is the sanitized version of BNSF, told from a board room perspective, and meant not to offend anyone still around. Kaufman closes his epilogue with text about BNSF today, sounding much like a company press release. While there's a lot of value to his final analysis of the future, you can't help but feel that it's not an unbiased view, despite his claim in the preface that the company had never exerted the slightest influence on what he wrote. Why was this book written? About half-way through, it occurred to me that the book in many was resembles a text-book; I wonder if the company uses it in their Management Training Program? Leaders Count is printed in trade-paperback form, the same rough dimensions most Bibles are published in. Indeed there are two versions: a plain cover versions issued in 2003 -- likely largely used internally by the company -- and a version sold to the public with a photo cov

I really enjoyed this book. It was comprehensive and very well written. I particularly enjoyed the chapter 'Decline Accelerates' and the story regarding "Powerful People Don't Ride Trains-Do They?" Great book.

This book is more than an important slice of western railroad history: it is an insider's view of a company that has consistently and successfully dealt with the assimilation of competing, and in some cases conflicting, corporate cultures. In this respect alone it serves as an important contribution to the field of railway management, a subject that has received far less coverage than railway history. Henry Posner III Chairman Railroad Development Corp. Pittsburgh, PA

No serious student of the railroad industry can go without reading this book. I have also recently read (and recommended) Rush Loving's "The Men Who Loved Trains." As good as Loving's book was, I liked this book more. The book is well researched, well written and well organized...an easy and highly educational read. While focused on the evolution of the modern day BNSF (in a way, the western US counterpart to Loving's work), this book provides great insight into the entire contemporary rail industry in North America. Again, a must read for anyone interested in the rail industry.