The "SF" part of BNSF wasn't there then. BN at the time has very dependent on midwest commodities and those plunged too. Probably why it impacted BN more. And it was about that time that BN started pushing for another partner because UP had them in terms of competitive position. BN spend several years trying to snag Robert Krebs to run the show and he would only come if his AT&SF can as an equal partner. What that did for BN was given them a big time shortest distance route between Chicago and Los Angles which was and is THE container port world wide. With that merger, BN became a real "playa" as it were and was then on an equal footing as UP. And in AT&SF they got a company who'd spent it's history butting heads with UP, knew how to play hardball with them, and was not at all intimidated by them.