I originally posted in shortline economis. Probably belongs here.
You might be interested in a short line a few miles from me. It use to come through my small ciy which is now a rail trail.
Lots of product distribution in the Westfield area.It has expanded the past ten years. Big box companies require a lot of products. Even local lumber compnies. New buildings and sidings added the past years. More trailer trucks to and from these buldings at the turnpike entrance.
In the Yard, many trailer trucks pickup plastic pellets from tank cars. One coating company takes a few cars for unloading for product production.
When I lived in Westfield, a distribution area was developing. It is now, Boise-Cascade distribution center on a CSX siding not far from the Pioneer Valley interchange. Not sure who services this place. It is quite large now. Maybe Pioneer Valley or Springfield Terminal. West Springfield yard is not far away.
https://www.pinsly.com/services-solutions/pioneer-valley-railroad/
The line is sixteen miles long. I sometimes go to the yard in Westfield, Ma and watch from an overhead bridge near the CSX interchange.
It has a track past a company I use to work at in Holyoke. I use to have lunch at a siding in the good weather. A turnout in front of me had no lock. I see cars parked there now on GPS at times so it must have a lock now. I do remember seeing a high rail pickup when I would come into work stopped at the beginning of the siding. I rretired in 2006.
Nearby, they connect with Pan Am Railways mainline.
You can see everything on Google maps.
Many times rolling stock are stored in Holyoke on sidings near old mills.
Last I saw a CF-7 being used. I did see those on a roster list sometime ago.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I guess to answer Bearman's question directly, we could see what Wiki has to say:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortline_railroad
Mike.
My You Tube
wjstix a stone quarry that ships out a couple of hopper cars every other day.
In some areas that is seasonal like National Lime at Spor,Ohio,it can ship 60 car trains twice a week during the "construction season" and nothing for weeks during the winter.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
bearman Larry, I don't think I was very clear with my second question. Would a short line send a locomotive out to just pick up cars from, say, customers A, B, and C without dropping any cars off either at those customers or customers D and E?
Larry, I don't think I was very clear with my second question. Would a short line send a locomotive out to just pick up cars from, say, customers A, B, and C without dropping any cars off either at those customers or customers D and E?
I did not mean gobble up in a negative way.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
dehusmanFor example, there are shortline/switching lines that had two engines so they wouldn't need a run around and could switch facing and trailing point switches.
The Wisconsin Northern owned by Progressive Rail, does this. Their two main locos are a pair of GP15's, sometimes struggle with the length of trains they move, so usually a SW1500 trails, to help with the load, and do switching as they go.
bearman It looks like the Genessee & Wyoming is some sort of holding company which gobbles up short lines.
It looks like the Genessee & Wyoming is some sort of holding company which gobbles up short lines.
Bear,They also bought Rail America and all its short lines..
GWI started as a 14.5 mile long short line that served one salt mine-the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad.
"Gobbles up" seems a little harsh, as far as the Tomahawk Railway (TR), here in northen WI.
I wouldn't consider the G&Y as monsters that try to put others out of business, which is what the term "gobbles up" implies to me.
The TR provides daily service between the Packaging Corp. of America's pulp mill, and it's huge warehouse in Tomohawk, WI. It does daily interchange with PCA traffic with the CN.
The TR goes back to it's heritage, which was the MT&W, Marinette, Tomohawk and Western, which was incorporated in 1894 to serve the paper industry.
WI. paper mills have been going extinct since the 90's, and this little railroad, with it's 6 miles of track, and the PCA keeps things going, and people working.
Being taken over by the G&Y has helped keep this a reality.
The TR handles about 8,000 carloads a year, interchanging with the CN.
The G&Y along with others, like Progressive Rail, I think, help short lines keep operating.
Just my worth Bearman.
dehusmanIf a bridge burns down on a shortline, the line will probably fold,
Dave,That would depend on how much traffic is generated beyond that bridge and if there is enough industries that require daily rail service then the bridge will be rebuilt by the owner which is usually a Port Authority with State and Federal money.
As far as track that is a problem with some short lines that operates over 60 or more year old track seeing some modern cars is to heavy for such light rail.
All is not lost as this video shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJt-QjL-fu8
bearmanAs for the switching services, I always thought that the industry, assuming it was big enough, would do its own switching.
A lot of it is contracted out because it can be expensive. Industries doing their own switching is also a more recent thing, as class ones consolidated and shed locomotives the used locomotive market became flooded with engines so the rental rates were really low. The industry would have to have somebody qualified to run the engine and if it entered class 1 trackage would have to have somebody qualified on the rules.
For example, there are shortline/switching lines that had two engines so they wouldn't need a run around and could switch facing and trailing point switches. If you are a class one and have to buy the engines new, and have all the higher costs associated with engine maintenance, that's horribly expensive. If you are just leasing a couple used engines on a rate that doesn't cover replacement, then its feasible.
Class 1's have different costs, they have more infastructure to cover and higher maintenance costs. If a bridge burns down on a shortline, the line will probably fold, unless they can get a grant/loan from a public entity torebuild it. If a bridge burns down on a class 1 there are on staff civil engineers planning the new bridge, pile drivers and bridge material headed that way before the fire is out. A shortline is maintained to class 1 or 2 track, a class 1 is maintained to class 4 or 5, a HUGE difference in cost. Class 1's generally have 286k or 315k bridge loadings with double stack clearances, shortlines 263k and maybe 286k.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Bear,Here's a link to GWI's family of short lines..In the upper right hand corner you will see "Find a railroad" that is a drop down list. If you check these roads out you will learn what commodities they haul..A very useful tool for modeling a short line.
https://gwrr.com/
I am learning here. There is a short line here in Arizona, the Apache Railway, which has been around since 1917 and connects to the BNSF at Holbrook. It was primarily a logging railroad, supplying some saw mills and a paper mill. The paper mill, the biggest customer, closed down a few years ago. By that time, it was processing recycled paper. Prior to its closure, the railroad abandoned about the southern half of its route when the sawmills closed down, primarily in McNary (I believe). Apache Railway is in bankruptcy right now, and I think it is trying to reorganize, but I don't think it is going to happen.
BRAKIEShort lines survive by giving their customers the service they request.
Mike
Great, Larry, thanks. My layout is definitely a shortline with an interchange and I have suddenly realized that it might just be necessary to send out a loco and caboose and pick up cars from their locations and drop them off at the interchange or another industry.
As for the switching services, I always thought that the industry, assuming it was big enough, would do its own switching.
Bear,Absoluetly! You see loaded or empty cars are picked up and taken to the interchange in a timely manner..
Short lines survive by giving their customers the service they request.
Did you know some short lines offer switching service by assigning a engine and crew to do in house switching?
Class III Railroad – often called a “short line railroad.” Class III railroads have operating revenues of $36.6 million or less
bearman And, would a shortline send out a locomotive to pickup rolling stock from its customers?
And, would a shortline send out a locomotive to pickup rolling stock from its customers?
Bear,That's how a short line makes its living by delivering and picking up cars just like the big boys do.
The majority of modern short lines has sprung up after a Class one railroad decides to sell off maginal profit branch lines. These branch lines is usually bought by a Port Aurthority and then leased to a short line operator like R.J.Corman,GWI and other like operators.
A lot of times these operators turns a low traffic branch line into a profitable operations by regaining the industries the big Class one lost over the years..