Fred Frailey has done a wonderful service with his story about Bob Bryant's BIG LITTLE RAILROAD.
To me its most significant message was the accomplishments by people who love railroading and will unquestionably deal with the challenges encountered. By covering for their fellow worker instead of saying its not my job they have shown what can be done when all are similarly motivated.
Yes a great story. It is refreshing to read this after all the stuff we hear in the media about the helpless downtrodden masses. There are still ordinary people around who see an opportunity and are able bootstrap their way to success....it gives us all hope. That's what made America (and Canada) great to begin with..
My wife and I have had the pleasure of riding the Cardinal twice; from Washington to Chicago two years ago, and from Chicago to Washington last year. I cannot explain it, but I felt that going across Virginia west of Charlottesville was the best part of our trip in 2009 (which included going from Vancouver to Moncton). However, the following year, as we were eating lunch the engineer suddenly speeded up and we had the roughest ride ever and we were not certain we would be able to make it back to our room safely, even though the sleeper was directly behind the diner.
The article did indeed shine light upon this venture in owning a railroad, and it explained many things about the road. I was a bit surprised to read that the operation east of Gordonsville is dark territory, and that the Orange-Gordonsville track is owned by NS and not CSX. I had long had the understanding that after the Orange and Alexandria built into Charlottesville the Orange Gordonsville track went to the C&O since the O&A no longer needed it (for several years, the O&A had trackage rights between Gordonsville and Charlottesville).
Johnny
Agreed...an outstanding story, well written by Mr. Frailey. As I read the article, several thoughts and questions came to mind.
I have always wondered about the financial aspects of trackage rights. As we see from the article - the agreement for $2million per year based on 156,000 cars equals about $$12.82 per car. Seems rather low to me, but it seems to be working for all parties. Does this include revenue from running the Amtrakers? This cost of $12.82 places the "tollway" rate of $1300 or so for running a train across the old C&O. Of course there is no ownership cost involved as the lease is yearly and includes no amoritized costs.
With CSX now running 7 trains daily over the line, one would expect the yearly revenue to be around $3.5m from trackage rights. In essense, C&O gets MOW work for 190 miles, including signal work for $3.5 million or $18,421 per mile. Is that a good deal? It seems like it to me.
Would this kind of deal be made today? My guess is "no." It seems the trend for railroads is to hang on to mainlines (CSX gave up quite a bit over the years).
Buckingham Branch has prospered by the vision of the Bryant family. Obviously one of his best decisions (there have been many) was to find good people with engineering and railroading abilities and experience.
I have often wondered about CSX holding on to the Monon route from Munster, In to Indy and if that would ever spin off (Indiana Railroad?). But it never did. Or even the branchlines around Monon, Indiana - up to Francesville and Medaryville and down to Monticello. Those branches never seemed to make sense, although there are large elevators on the Medaryville branch. Only 1 train each way runs from Chicago to Indy, yet somehow CSX managed to hold on to that line. Why tender the old C&O line in Virginia and keep the Monon?Ed
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