Looks like the Black Hole (CN) is gonna swallow up another railroad....

I wonder how Canadian railroads in the USA are being viewed by Americans. In the past if I recall correctly, the CP (then CP Rail) took some American owned lines and changed their corporate name to CP Rail Systems. The (new) "split flag" logo was not received well in terms of identity, as some Americans did'nt want the US flag to be used half-heartedly in a logo. After a few years, the name and logo changed into Canadian Pacific with the golden beaver circular logo.
Better, but the big Canadian block letters showed who's country was "invaded" by Canada.

CN is more subtle, with anyone that is not familiar to what the CN name stands for has to do a little more research into the matter. The CN identity reaches all the way into Louisiana via the old Illinois Central. Does anyone care that a Canadian owned company stretches through the MidWest all the way to the Gulf Of Mexico?

Things like patriotism and a want for nostalgia might make the Canadian railroads less desireable in the USA. Supporting a Canadian railroad can be less inticing to someone from the "old school", and make them initially want to support other American railroads once a takeover has made an American railroad "foreign".

Is there a feeling of throwing up your hands and saying "Well, there goes the neighbourhood" on the American side of the border?

It goes both ways. When WalMart came to canada, it bought out the old Woodwards stores, neglected for years and turned them into something better. We still have a similar institution called Zellers (part of The Bay {Hudson's Bay Company} - the major shareholder is American), that in my opinion Zellers will be sold to Target Stores withinin the next five years.
The Bay has been in business from back in the fur-trading days - over three hundred and twenty five years old in fact, and now is owned by an American? There was major publicity over that issue, and not a lot of people in Canada supporting the news when it happened.

almo