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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Chris30 One thing to add to the small grain elevators that are disappearing. A lot of small elevators are/were located on old, lightweight rail that is/was maintenance deffered branch trackage. As the weight of a loaded grain car continues to get heavier, the lightweight, maintenance deffered track can no longer support the weight of those cars. To continue serving these small elevators the railroads would have to continue using smaller/lighter cars, or the branch trackage would have to be completely rebuilt at a great cost that would never be repaid to support the newer, heavier grain cars. Don't foreget about the cost of crew and equipment to serve the lightweight branches that might only produce a few cars a week for one season of the year. It just makes more sense for the small elevators take the discount offered and truck their product to a large elevator on the main line. The railroads are more than willing to give a discount to the small elevator vs. the expense of the branch lines. CC [/quote] This all goes back to argument of whether it is more effective to deliver grain from country elevator to unit train terminal via a 105k truck (129k in some states) over country roads, or whether it might be better to make that same short haul using old 264k (or even older 220k) hoppers over a still intact branch line. There are some shortline guys who even claim they can haul 286k cars over lightweight trackage if they just keep it under 10 mph. So it comes down to the idea that branchlines can continue to remain functional (and thus profitable) if the branchline owner can (1) carry grain from the elevators on his line to the unit train facility in the lighter weight 220k and 264k hoppers (which probably requires access to mainline rails to get to the unit train facility), or (2) fill up 286k hoppers with branchline grain and then go real slow over the branchline rails until the shortline can reach mainlline rails wherein they can speed it up to get to the unit train facility, wherein the 286k cars are added to the unit train consist. The former could be a problem if the older cars are no longer FRA compliant off the home rails, and the whole enterprise is dependent on the shortline operator being able to gain access to the unit train facility, often over mainline rails. When the Class I's owned and operated the the branchlines, this was no problem, but if they've spun off the branchline they are probably less accomodating of the branchline consists occupying the mainline rails. The bottom line is that it is still more efficient to move grain via 220k hoppers than it is to move grain in 105k truck trailers, and unless the rail move is no more than a few hoppers per year, it should still pay to move this product via rail rather than truck. For the most part the branchline is already paid for, only maintenance required to keep it minimally functional. With diesel fuel prices looking like they'll stay high for the time being, and the truck driver shortage means current drivers will begin to earn higher wages to stop loss for trucking firms, the idea of running lightweight freight trains over the lightweight rails could make a comeback. But it will still depend on the access issue to make it work.
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