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[:D] Many thanks to all the multifaceted in-depth answers to the original question. While I always considered the speed and cost of trucking to be the main reasons why livestock left the rails, I never realized how many aspects there were that caused the decline. I won't attempt to add to these excellent answers, but I would like to make some comments about the industry when it used to move by rail. I never knew until recently just how large an operation it was. Thousands of people were involved all over the country. Feed lots where the livestock had to be rested as described in this discussion could be huge, covering dozens of acres. Some of these places had a dozen or more tracks. And they weren't just for loading and unloading livestock. Feed and bedding had to be shipped in. Waste had to be removed. The place had to be cleaned regularly since an outbreak of disease could have far ranging effects. Facilities had to be provided for not just cattle, but for sheep, hogs, and any other kind of livestock being shipped. At the load origination point, livestock could not be loaded until the locomotive and train crew were ready to go, because once loaded, the clock started ticking for when the rest period was due. In most cases, the livestock had to be hauled to the railsite in trucks, or perhaps in earlier day, driven, since most ranchers were not located on a rail spur. The railroads had detailed standardized plans in different sizes for the livestock pens. These plans listed every last piece of wood and metal that would be needed in its construction. Livestock cars, while perhaps not the most modern of equipment, was arguably the cleanest. While, granted, during a trip there was undoubtedly a healthy livestock aroma present, between trips the cars had to be sanitized to ward of disease which as noted could spread rapidly and cause widespread disaster. Two basic car designs existed. Single-level cars were primarily for the largest livestock. Two-level cars could carry smaller animals such as sheep and hogs on the upper level in addition to the livestock on the lower level. There were even express livestock cars for hauling race horses that moved in passenger trains. The term "cowpoke" originated as a term applied to the men who rode with the shipment and during stops would walk the train, poking the livestock with sticks to keep them from lying down or kneeling on the floor. Later, and probably meant to be derogatory, it came to mean "cowboy". The term for the car they traveled in was called a "drovers caboose". With all the expense all this entailed, it's no wonder that trucks could do it cheaper as described in this topic.
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