Northern Empire After numerous requests and denials for merger and nearly 75 years after James J. Hill first suggested the idea, on March 2nd 1970 the Burlington Northern was born. Originally this new railroad was going to be called the “Great Northern Pacific & Burlington Lines”, but this cumbersome name simply would not do. Therefore, the public relations firm Lippincott & Marguiles were assigned the task of coming up with a better name and image. Their result was “Burlington Northern” since Burlington was the most recognizable name of the three railroads and Northern was a part of the other two. Besides the new name, they also came up with the Cascade Green and white paint scheme BN would be known for. Lippincott & Marguiles also came up with the name and logo for Amtrak in 1971.
