Problem with short lines is that most of them are owned by holding companies which act like the class one wannabes when it comes to being excursion or steam friendly. And you have to get your train to the short line somehow. Only way it works is if you are resident on the short line. Now, where in the boondocks is your short line? certainly not near a large population center from which you might draw passengers!

And check out how ownership is distributed in a Class I:

CSX:

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/csx/insti ... l-holdings

NS:

http://money.cnn.com/quote/shareholders ... titutional

UP:

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/unp/ownership-summary

BNSF, of course, is famously owned by one stockholder.

Well, ours is owned by the state and runs from a major urban center into an adjacent county. Not all share these I know..... and the holding company thing can mean one deal made can cover several lines. You move on flatcars for the power, have interchangeable cars that can move in freight trains. Suppose Warren Buffet likes steam trains?

You missed the point. The shortline holding companies may be themselves owned largely by institutional investors, but the holding companies themselves are railroads first and very few of these companies allow their constituent railroads to operate independently.

And that is the crux of the matter, we have to deal with managements, whether railroad or institutional, that don't give a hoot about anything but money.

This is getting extreme in this country, and in my opinion, is an unbalanced outlook. It shortchanges everything but the bottom line.

The thing is, we are supposed to be worthy of more than that. If we aren't, then my family, my church, my school, and even this forum, are all wrong.

So as I see it there's three steps to hit before you go to a railroad...

1) Develop a plan, including cost assessments and equipment requirements
2) Simultaneously, try to develop a relationship with people at the local railroad, whether short-line regional or otherwise.
3) Once the plan is put together, try to sit down for an informal meeting with your contact, see what he thinks. If he's receptive, see if you can't get a formal meeting set up.

J3a I think it might also be important to note that management are people too. Try to develop a personal relationship first. Even if it doesn't pan out for some sort of partnership to run steam on their line, the relationship could provide invaluable insight, knowledge and learning potential...

In a lot of ways that's good advice, but it's absolutely worthless if you're dealing with a Class 1. The headquarters guys can and will overrule anything anybody local may allow.

Of course, if you do know the top men at CSX, BNSF, UP, KCS, or NS, you don't have this to worry about, and you swim with really big fish!!

Time to resurrect a dormant thread:

CSX places six line segments on sale

Wasn't there a prior stipulation according with these sales that no heritage equipment or passenger trips would be run on these lines if sold?

I believe that it really was just for any leased lines. Once you sell it would be close to impossible to enforce. Like telling the next homeowner they can't paint the house blue.

Ahhh good point. I didn’t realize/had forgotten that was a stipulation on the leased lines vs sold ones. Thanks!

In view of the events at Noblesville, a bump seems appropriate.

Sort of related, or maybe kind of familiar:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/1 ... KxMf1w196g

The problem usually tracks back to the publicly-held company's exposure to lawsuits that were 'preventable' by simply not allowing the activity. That applies to the Class 1's, and the holding companies for shortlines as well.

If they have an existing agreement via acquisition, they'll honor it, if they can run under an Amtrak liability shield that's been an alternative. But if you're paying any attention at all, you know that CSX, NS, UP, all of them are ripe targets for major lawsuits with sometimes very little actual negligence at the bottom. The bridge accident on CSX with the film crew comes to mind immediately. And you know, they can all be their worst enemy given the opportunity without involving passengers at all.

If they actually sell a line, it's in the clear for liability. But you'll also see some reluctance to sell property if the sale exposes them to environmental investigation and cleanup. If you see track sales without the property sale remember that.

The biggest eyebrow raiser recently was in the Jacksonville journal revealing that CSX was being allowed to consider sales of assets as 'regular income' (property and equipment) as revenue to go against their operating ratio calculation, unlike many others that are not doing that. That certainly puts some motivation behind line sales that otherwise might not happen, or as quickly. In a perfect world they can lock down an interchange with the new carrier (non-competitive) take the sale, keep the remaining freight business, and move on. And inadvertently change the landscape for excursion potential depending on who is now in the liability path - public, private, or holding company. Doesn't ever hurt to cultivate relationships, but this is a rather chaotic time to assume they'll give you a long-term basis for agreement.

The operating ratio driven model has raised havoc with staffing across the board in both operating and support roles, you'll find it increasingly difficult to get any attention to all but the biggest fires, low-hanging fruit opportunities, etc. simply because the people aren't there anymore so you have to appreciate the situation the 'survivors' are left with on a daily basis.

With the current news coming out of North Caroline and NS, it might be a near future thought that the loops around old fort could be up for grabs within the next (10) ish years..?

http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archiv ... Yt-SGGKOxA

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... h-carolina

DISCLAIMER: I have no personal knowledge of what NS plans to do with the line, no idea of who should take the line, and no idea of the operating costs associated with the line. However, there are some population centers nearby and the line has incredible scenery for a healthy length! The hills present on the line would also allow larger locomotives to actually reach more of their potential, not through speed, but with power output.