"Wow! Did We Ever Make a Difference!" Volume II: How Burlington Northern Railroad and its ‘Ex-Cons’ Revolutionized the North American Grain Supply Chain Paperback – June 26, 2025

During the mid-1980s, Burlington Northern Railroad faced a severe grain business downturn. President Darius Gaskins asked Bill Greenwood to succeed him as the company's head of Marketing and Sales. Greenwood accepted the opportunity and immediately inquired about the Marketing’s unmet objectives. Gaskins replied:"Our grain pricing is never right. When the demand is up, our prices are down. When the demand is down, our prices are up. I want you to find a way to make our grain marketing in sync with the actual grain market, how it works."Greenwood recalled: "So, I walked out of his office like, how do I do this? I don’t know anything about this stuff. I decided that I needed to hire somebody from the grain industry to help me. … I found a guy … by the name of Richard Carter. He was head of the worldwide wheat trading organization for Continental Grain Company. Then we brought in two more people from Continental Grain Company, Phil Weaver and a third guy whose name slips my mind at the moment. Wow! Wow, wow, wow! Did we ever make a difference!"Greenwood’s reflections on the events that followed inspired the title of this book: Wow! Did We Ever Make a Difference!, along with its subtitle — How Burlington Northern Railroad and its ‘Ex-Cons’ Revolutionized the North American Grain Supply Chain. Building on the foundation established in Volume I, Volume II chronicles the transformation of BN’s Grain/Agricultural Commodities business from 1981 — when the Grain Strategic Business Unit was established following the passage of the Staggers Act — through 1995 and the BN–Santa Fe merger. It details how BN, particularly after the arrival of the "Ex-Cons," fundamentally reshaped the North American grain supply chain. It highlights how this transformation led to major achievements across four key areas through these initiatives, among others:Ag Supply Chain EfficienciesCountry elevator infrastructure rationalization; Unit train operations; South Dakota railroad restoration; Creation of short lines; Integrated Grain Network; Car productivity incentives; Per car rates; “Transit” elimination; HAL cars; Car Capacity SwapsCommercial InnovationsElimination of contracts; Forward rate (COT) auctions; Guaranteed Freight; Electronic tariffs; ACRES system; leased car “Dutch Auction”Defense of Commercial RightsBN emerged as an industry leader in defending the carrier rights reinstated by the Staggers Act, before the Interstate Commerce Commission and the courts. These legal efforts helped shape the regulatory landscape and restore/secure critical protections for the rail industry. They played a vital role in boosting BN’s operational efficiency, elevating customer service, supporting profitability for reinvestment, and improving the performance of the grain supply chain. Four extended but highly consequential legal battles formed the core of this campaign:LOSAC; SCOT-5; COTs; McCarty FarmsImpact on BN ProfitabilityVolume II offers extensive analyses estimating the remarkable profit impact generated by these and other BN Grain/Ag initiatives. It details how these innovations enabled reinvestments in BN’s corn franchise, contributed to BN’s successful acquisition of the Santa Fe Railway, and prevented the financial jeopardy BN would have faced had the Grain/Ag revolution not occurred.It concludes by explaining how BN’s Grain/Ag revolution enabled BNSF Railway to achieve significant volume, revenue and market share milestones while helping farmers in former BN markets profitably access new regions, including areas previously dominated by barge competition. It also poses a question about whether United States regulatory policy related to transcontinental rail mergers should be reconsidered. Read more