Warren Buffett's purchase of Burlington Northern Railroad could be an absolutely brilliant long term investment.  This investment has the ability to combine electric power generation with railroad right-of-ways. 

In my opinion railroads are generally a real estate play.  They own a lot of property with low grades that crisscross the entire United States.  Berkshire Hathaway holdings of MidAmerican Energy is a electric utility that generates and distributes power.  The combination of the two provides a very potent energy generation company with a distribution right-of-way.

For those not familiar with HVDC let me explain.  High Voltage Direct Current allows for the transmission of millions of volts across smaller cables that can be buried underground verse traversing the eyesore towers.  If you want to increase business why not sell power direct to your business customers that have a rail spur or transmit bulk power thousands of miles to backup another utility.  Not a problem if you own the railroad right of way.  Want to make high speed cross country electric trains?  Put an electric company on the right of way and you have the combination of MidAmerican and Burlington Northern.  This is a phenomenal way to increase the asset value of two highly regulated industries.

Like I said this could be an absolutly brilliant investment, but you better be a long term thinker.

Bill Harder