Hello, I Have Recently Been To Flagstaff Arizona And Find It Very Beautiful And I Love Flagstaff, I Love The Railroad.
And While I Was There I Noticed The Flagstaff Local Idling On A Siding Possibly Done For The Day, And Found Out That The 2 Locomotives And Probably Only 2 Employees Switch The 7 Industries In And Around Flagstaff And Take Them To Winslow Arizona At Least An Hour Away, And Was Wondering If It Would Be Possible To Do Something Like This:
Offer BNSF A Particular Amount Of Money To Actually Become The Owner Of The Former BNSF Flagstaff Local Sort Of Becoming Its Own Railroad Than, Therefore I Would Have Ownership Of The Right To Serve And Switch The Local Customers, Own The 2 Locomotives, And Employ The Possibly 2 Or More/Or Less Employees?
Sort Of Like Purchasing A Small Class III Railroad But Actually Purchasing A Somewhat Small Portion Of A Large Portion
// massive laughter on Lou Menk Drive at the NOC followed by ????????????...
You're messing with the transcon. No touchee! (You'd just love messing with the operating crafts protecting their own as well.)
Same here - you'd be too involved with the TransCon, as mudchicken pointed out, for BNSF to be comfortable with that proposal. But find a nice branchline off in the woods or desert someplace with the same characteristics, and make BNSF an offer - they might take you up on it. Problem is, most operations like that have already been spun off as short lines or to a RailAmerica or Genessee & Wyoming/ collection of shortlines type of operation, etc.
- Paul North.
Unless you have an excellent set of credentials, it's becoming increasingly unlikely that a Class I would sell even a weak branchline to you. They prefer to sell to operators who already know what they're getting into, such as Genesee & Wyoming, Rail America, Patriot Rail, etc.
B-Daddy;
You have suddenly developed a personal problem--Maschochism?
If you are looking for punishment; find the meanest barroom crowd in your area- walk in and scream you can whip everybody in there. THEY WILL Oblige!
The result will will be analogous to running a small indeendent segment of railroad, while getting the ' Big RR'er' to drop his plan to suit your needs.
BNSF@NARS Hello, I Have Recently Been To Flagstaff Arizona And Find It Very Beautiful And I Love Flagstaff, I Love The Railroad. And While I Was There I Noticed The Flagstaff Local Idling On A Siding Possibly Done For The Day, And Found Out That The 2 Locomotives And Probably Only 2 Employees Switch The 7 Industries In And Around Flagstaff And Take Them To Winslow Arizona At Least An Hour Away, And Was Wondering If It Would Be Possible To Do Something Like This: Offer BNSF A Particular Amount Of Money To Actually Become The Owner Of The Former BNSF Flagstaff Local Sort Of Becoming Its Own Railroad Than, Therefore I Would Have Ownership Of The Right To Serve And Switch The Local Customers, Own The 2 Locomotives, And Employ The Possibly 2 Or More/Or Less Employees? Sort Of Like Purchasing A Small Class III Railroad But Actually Purchasing A Somewhat Small Portion Of A Large Portion
While I dobt BNSF would go for the deal you describe there have been recent instances of a Class 1 subcontracting local freight operations on part of it's system to a shortline or regional RR. I remember reading a few years ago about NS doing this but I do not recall where..
There certainly are numerous examples of the big railroads selling branches to shortlines and regionals......
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
If BNSF is 'making money' on that local - why would they want to sell off a 'revenue stream'? If they did sell/lease the rights to YOU, you would need to make a deal to share the revenue(BNSF will still be hauling the big mileage). And the shipper/consignee may want a 'discount' as well!
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Even if they would agree to this, what do you stand to gain from it? It isn't money! How much revenue to you think those 7 industries would generate? Would it be enough to repay your investment in acquiring the line, maintaining the line, and buying the locomotives, not to mention keeping them operational? Where would you service them if necessary? Even the Galveston Terminal RR (owned by Genessee and Wyoming) has a small 1 stall engine shop but only operate over a couple of miles of track. I just don't see how you could make enough money to justify it. You would have to have a few employees. You can't do it all yourself. You'd even need a track maintenance crew. Even if you could sub any of that work out, you still have to pay for it somehow not to mention any materials needed. Would you have any emergency equipment available for a potential derailment? What about the prospect of being sued should something happen?
The more I think about it the more I realize why many large class 1's are getting rid of many small switching jobs completely rather than just trying to sell them off. Keep in mind these large companies already have the manpower and equipment on the books travelling the country to take care of any issues so they wouldn't have to have anyone dedicated to only that area, much like the switching crew.
How would you interchange with BNSF? You know they aren't going to want you to run on their track. Especially not the transcon. Would you be willing to install an interchange track somewhere? If so, how would you get local approval to acquire any land that may be necessary to allow for the added space? Even if you could accomplish all of this, why would BNSF want to stop and drop off or pick up cars from your interchange tracks, which is a switching move, when they could just complete the whole job themselves? They aren't going to let you run an hour down their busy tracks.
Since they have everything in place already, it is probably profitable for them to keep owning and operating it. I don't see any benefit in it for them to lose it and only more headaches. I also don't see any way any new ownership could benefit from it financially.
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