A museum operation is located at the end of 5 plus miles of industrial lead. This trackage serves a handful of customers with less than 250 carloads/year. Potentially, the Class 1 operator may seek to abandon the industrial trackage leaving the museum operation landlocked. Naturally, the museum operator has limited resources yet would like to take a proactive approach before conditions change.

What advantages/disadvantages are there in operating the industrial trackage as a shortline?.

Suggestions?

RG

Immediate reaction:

Run, don't walk, to your state DOT to see if they might be amenable to assisting with funding for any track repairs now or soon to be required. Many states help keep shortlines viable to assist local industries to stay afloat. More likely if there are other or potential industries that could rail ship along the line.

From a museum POV, your own track is a blessing and a curse. It will eat resources but eliminate dependence on another entity for operating rights. The presumption here is you are now operating in a regulated environment and that won't change.

Try to cut a favorable deal with the class one whereby you won't be charged for interchanges, etc if at all possible. If you can include trackage rights to an urban center it may help you increase visitation to the museum as well.

Best of luck.

Dave

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum went through a similar experience about a year ago. Tim Andrews at TVRM can give you good advice.

Alan Maples

AMaples@aol.com

Is it you intention to be an operating museum, or are you primarily concerned with getting stuff in and out? If equipment relocation is all you're worried about, there is no way to justify it. That length of line would likely not have a Net Liquidation Value of more than between 50k-100k. Revenues on such carloadings, depending on what it is, would likely not exceed $100,000. Out of that comes interchange, car hire,RR accounting, RR retirement, ect........

In the short run, not a money maker for a shortline, but, if you are going to run on the track anyway, providing part time freight freight service may make a marginal museum operation viable.

A little free Shortline Railroading 101.

lorija799@aol.com

> A little free Shortline Railroading 101.

Thank you for the quick responses.
Is there any material available in the mode of "Shortline Railroading for Dummies"?
;-)

> Thank you for the quick responses.
> Is there any material available in the mode
> of "Shortline Railroading for
> Dummies"?
> ;-)
No such book. contact me via e-mail and I will give you several options to numerous to list here. sounds like an easy way to make a 5 mile run for your museum.


irss@eriecoast.com

Ask the folks at East Troy, they interchange a small amount of freight.
Do not forget when you start interchanging you become "part of the general railway system".


lamontdc@adelphia.net

On the question of owning track and right of way.

The Western Railway Museum owns 22 miles of land and track which was built in 1912 by the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern. We are preserving a segment of an important Western Interurban.

It is really more than the museum needs at present. But in the future, a new station is to be built on the UP mainline. And wouldn't it be great to have a shuttle between our place and Amtrak?
Rail preservation that is serving a real transportation function.



ted_miles@nps.gov

Youu might want to contact the Indiana Railway Museum/Dubois County Railroad Museum and speak to their director. They have a thriving shortline that has really taken off. They were one of the first museums to go this route.

A museum operation is located at the end of
> 5 plus miles of industrial lead. This
> trackage serves a handful of customers with
> less than 250 carloads/year. Potentially,
> the Class 1 operator may seek to abandon the
> industrial trackage leaving the museum
> operation landlocked. Naturally, the museum
> operator has limited resources yet would
> like to take a proactive approach before
> conditions change.

> What advantages/disadvantages are there in
> operating the industrial trackage as a
> shortline?.

> Suggestions?

> RG


marinebubba2000@yahoo.com