Fallen flag

A fallen flag in United States railroader's and railfan's terminology, is a railroad company no longer in existence. The railroad industry had been in consolidation for a long time, and almost every year sees the list of names shrink. Most railroad companies that once existed have either closed, been assimilated by a larger company, or participated in a merger of equals in which neither company's name survived unaltered (an example of the latter being the Burlington Northern / Santa Fe merger, which produced the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway or BNSF.

As an indication of the level of consolidation that has taken place, only five Class 1 railroads (then, railroads with over a million dollars in income per year) from before the Great Depression still exist under their original names, these being the:

1. Union Pacific
2. Kansas City Southern
3. Florida East Coast
4. Canadian National
5. Canadian Pacific