Los Angeles Junction

Company History: The LAJ was established in 1923 to lease and operate 64 miles of track in the Vernon area of Los Angeles that was built by local shippers under the name “Central Manufacturing District Inc.” Soon after LAJ took over operations on the line, Santa Fe gained control of the company and successor BNSF still owns it today. Like Alton & Southern in the St. Louis area, even though LAJ is the wholly owned subsidiary of a single Class 1 railroad, it is operated independently.

In the steam era, 0-6-0’s ruled the roost. Diesels began arriving in 1941 in the form of Alco S-2’s which were joined later by S-4’s. The Alco’s were gradually replaced with CF7’s from parent Santa Fe. The CF7’s have since been retired and replaced by BNSF road switchers in conventional and gen-set varieties.

The LAJ straddles the Long Beach Freeway, just south of BNSF’s Hobart Yard. The line has 3 yards, 2 west of the freeway and 1 east of it, and 70 industrial spurs. There are two connections to BNSF and one to Union Pacific. Although they cover a relatively small area, today LAJ has 64 miles of track.

Successor/Parent History: The BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF) is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) (its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight), and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 48,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide high-speed links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.[2] The BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.

According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo. For instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on September 22, 1995. This new holding company then purchased the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called the "Santa Fe") and Burlington Northern Railroad, and formally merged the railways into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on December 31, 1996. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to "BNSF Railway," using the initials of its original name.

In 1999, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger.

On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock - a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt. On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.