At first glance, Warren Buffett's gamble on the future of railroads looks absolutely insane.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Investment Co. last week made what amounts to a $34 billion purchase offer for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, a railroad operation that ferries a wide range of products and commodities to markets in all corners of America.

The affable Buffett referred to the deal as an "all-in wager," a reference to no-limit poker, in which a player commits all his or her chips on a single hand. If the player's hand holds up, he or she is the big winner. If the hand loses, they walk away from the table with empty pockets.

So Buffett's wager on the future of rail transportation may, to some, look a bit suicidal. The nation is, after all, mired in a truly frightening economic slump, and officials at Burlington Northern announced shortly before the Buffett acquisition attempt that the company's third-quarter profit dived more than 30 percent.

But like every cagey poker player, Buffett knows a little something about this kind of deal - or suspects he knows - which is the basis for going all in.

Buffett is looking beyond the immediate sluggish company performance reports, and instead is focusing on the fact that diesel fuel prices are rising, and likely will continue to rise, eventually giving rail transport a leg up on the trucking industry.

This situation may take a while to develop, but a typical Burlington Northern train hauls as much freight as 280 fully loaded tractor/trailer trucks, using considerably less fuel to deliver the same amount of goods.

Burlington Northern's executive team also has shown considerable foresight in cost-cutting and managing its assets in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, a fact not lost on Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway brain trust.

The man known as the Oracle of Omaha also understands that Burlington Northern hauls just about every conceivable product Americans buy and use, from hairspray to Hondas. This infusion of investor guru confidence could be the lifesaving, triple by-pass surgery the nation's commercial transportation network really needs.

But, perhaps most importantly, Buffett's willingness to empty his bank account on this all-in play is sending important ripples through the financial community. Buffett's gambit tells investors that one of nation's - the world's, really - biggest players is so confident of America's economic future, that he's willing to make that big bet.

And those money folks are listening. After the Berkshire Hathaway offer was announced last week, Burlington Northern's generally moribund stock price shot up.

Buffett's play couldn't have come at a more critical time, as we approach the end of a long, painful recession. It adds support to and validates other indicators of the past few weeks, not the least of which was Ford Motor Co.'s announcement of a nearly $1 billion third-quarter profit - in an industry that was widely considered to be down for the count just a year ago.

Even some retailers are expressing cautious optimism for the approaching holiday season.

Considering all these factors, Buffett's "big gamble" may, in fact, be a stroke of genius. He's looking at the same data and indicators as everyone else, but what separates him from the pack is that (1) he is bold enough to act on that data, and (2) he has enough cash to make that all-in bet.

Here's our advice on weathering an economic storm - follow the money. Following Warren Buffett's money might not be a bad place to start.