MIKE0659It isn't cheap to run a shortline railroad. It is way more expensive than those outside the industry can imagine. It's why so many railroads fail, it just bleeds the owner dry.
I may not be a insider but,I've studied short lines since the 60s and seen many come and go only to be restarted by another short line operator under a new name.
Then,you have short lines that has turn unprofitable branch lines or urban industrial leads into money makers..
R.J.Corman and Jerry Jacobson was tops in their field as far as turning things around on trackage with few customers. R.Js Western Ohio Line is one example of what can be done after a Class One calls it quits over a certain piece of track.
While WE is a regional we can't overlook that sucess story no more then we can overlook former regionals Mid-South or Wisconsin Central.
We both know most class ones would rather not be in the local switching business.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Doughless MIKE0659 What you don't state is how long your shortline examples might be. If you find railroads that meet those numbers, you may find they don't actually operate many miles of railroad, or they don't run 5 days a week. The length of the railroad is a key to this. You have to have revenues sufficient to maintaining all those miles. I know from the inside what it costs to run a profitable shortline and that number of 10 cars per mile/per year is pretty good. Up to that point you are fighting your fixed costs, but when you break over that point, it is nearly all pure profit. Until you hit that next level where you have to add people and equipment and up your track maintenance to meet the new traffic levels. Mike. Thanks for the inside info. Just to be clear about the rule of thumb. 10 revenue cars/mile per year. For a 16 mile shortline, that's 160 cars per year, or about 3.1 cars per week. (I can do the math, just wanted to example what you wrote.)
MIKE0659 What you don't state is how long your shortline examples might be. If you find railroads that meet those numbers, you may find they don't actually operate many miles of railroad, or they don't run 5 days a week. The length of the railroad is a key to this. You have to have revenues sufficient to maintaining all those miles. I know from the inside what it costs to run a profitable shortline and that number of 10 cars per mile/per year is pretty good. Up to that point you are fighting your fixed costs, but when you break over that point, it is nearly all pure profit. Until you hit that next level where you have to add people and equipment and up your track maintenance to meet the new traffic levels.
What you don't state is how long your shortline examples might be. If you find railroads that meet those numbers, you may find they don't actually operate many miles of railroad, or they don't run 5 days a week. The length of the railroad is a key to this. You have to have revenues sufficient to maintaining all those miles.
I know from the inside what it costs to run a profitable shortline and that number of 10 cars per mile/per year is pretty good. Up to that point you are fighting your fixed costs, but when you break over that point, it is nearly all pure profit. Until you hit that next level where you have to add people and equipment and up your track maintenance to meet the new traffic levels.
Mike. Thanks for the inside info.
Just to be clear about the rule of thumb. 10 revenue cars/mile per year. For a 16 mile shortline, that's 160 cars per year, or about 3.1 cars per week. (I can do the math, just wanted to example what you wrote.)
I think you need to recheck the earlier posts. His earlier post, and one of mine also, said it's 100 cars per mile per year. Your 16 mile short line would need 1600 cars per year or about 31 loads per week.
Jeff
Ok. That makes more sense.
- Douglas
Doughless Ok. That makes more sense.
Doughless,Your short line can operate two or three days a week and still have a black ink bottom line since that lowers the overall operating costs.
I knew of one shortline that operated as needed until their only customer closed in 1970. The Morehead & North Fork down in Ky. The owner was the engineer and when needed the brakeman. Traffic was inbound empty boxcars and outbound brick.
Sorry about that Douglas, I dropped a zero there. It is 100 cars per mile per year.
Mike
MIKE0659 Sorry about that Douglas, I dropped a zero there. It is 100 cars per mile per year. Mike
A "Dream" short line to be sure. A 10 mile long short line would need 1,000 cars a year. A 25 mile long short line would need 2500 cars a year..Good luck with that unless there is a major shipper or receiver on the line.
Those are nice crunch numbers but,in my studies of short lines that number falls short for the majority...
BRAKIE MIKE0659 Sorry about that Douglas, I dropped a zero there. It is 100 cars per mile per year. Mike A "Dream" short line to be sure. A 10 mile long short line would need 1,000 cars a year. A 25 mile long short line would need 2500 cars a year..Good luck with that unless there is a major shipper or receiver on the line. Those are nice crunch numbers but,in my studies of short lines that number falls short for the majority...
A 10 mile long short line would need 21 cars per week to break even. That doesn't seem like a lot to me. Three 7-car trains per week if you wanted to free lance.
Dougless,Some short lines would love 7 car trains but,they hang on with 3-4 cars daily.
In that ten miles they may only have three customers and as we know the number cars a short line handles depends on the customer needs and to a degree whims..
And never forget the truckers get more then their far share of that customer's outbound and inbound shipments.
If you study short lines under GWI's ownership and look them up on Google or Bing maps you can see how many customers they serve by following their track.
Look at Corman's short lines customer base versus mileage.
https://www.rjcorman.com/companies/railroad-company/our-short-lines
Again those numbers may fall short.
BRAKIE Dougless,Some short lines would love 7 car trains but,they hang on with 3-4 cars daily. In that ten miles they may only have three customers and as we know the number cars a short line handles depends on the customer needs and to a degree whims.. And never forget the truckers get more then their far share of that customer's outbound and inbound shipments. If you study short lines under GWI's ownership and look them up on Google or Bing maps you can see how many customers they serve by following their track. Look at Corman's short lines customer base versus mileage. https://www.rjcorman.com/companies/railroad-company/our-short-lines Again those numbers may fall short.
4 cars x 5 days is in the same ballpark as 7 cars x 3 days. Special runs on weekends. Its all good.
Doughless Special runs on weekends. Its all good.
Dougless,Some short lines charges a surcharge for weekend service since the crew may be in overtime.
I know of one short line that offered Tuesday through Saturday service since that was some customers wanted service.
Another now defunct short line that I visited back in the late 80s operated on a as needed bases until their last two customers went to trucks..
Their Alco S-1 was stored in their metal engine shed until around '92 or maybe '93 when the scrappers removed the rail and steel bridge.. I never did find out what happen to that S-1 even though down deep I suspect it was cut up on the spot along with the engine shed.
At any rate with the weekly feast or famine operation I marvel how many so/so short lines manage to stay afloat.