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Great Lakes and Atlantic-Dream come true?

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Overmod If I may extend a bit on LC's comments regarding sensible routings: I'm sure it's fun to just imagine that you have acquired lots of Northeastern railroads 'because you can' -- but I think it would be far more fun to imagine that you have to acquire these lines from the appropriate entities or people, and then have to compete in the real world against those that are left. I might start by: 1) Deciding which main lines and trackage comprise my 'core business' 2) Determining who owns that trackage, and how I might acquire it from them 3) Finding the current owner, lessor, etc. of the ROWs I may want to use (e.g. ex-NYO&W route mileage) and figuring out what needs to be done (public hearings, alternative-use proposals, placating NIMBY property owners adjacent to trackage, etc.) 4) Procedures to request trackage rights -- and conditions of service, etc. over those rights -- from other railroads to bridge gaps or provide temporary service while other ROW acquisitions or improvements are in progress. A combination of these approaches, for instance, should give you the ability to run multiple independent routes in key lanes, which would then allow directional routing to eliminate 'running meets' from your CTC programming at important times, and as a consequence eliminate much of any need to double-track particular lines to increase capacity up to the point that demand would warrant the capital expense and effort. Then build and expand operations in the 'classic' railroad manner -- justifying the improvements in real terms, and making the necessary tradeoffs when needed. [/quote] OM- I agree with much of what is quoted above. Some years ago I read an of article concerning a man who modeled the "VIrginian & Ohio Railroad (V&O) and how hw spent a great deal of time actually figuring out realistic practices for his railroad based upon prototype lines such as the B&O, C&O, N&W, Virginian and others. He also figured out how his line could and would compete with the others and what routes it had built. If you look at those articles you will quickly see how hard it was to even get to that point. Andrew has proposed a much larger endeavor that will be substantially more complicated. I'm also not sure that Andrew realizes the size and extent of either Rail America or Genesee & Wyoming in terms of both finance and railroad holdings (Andrew, feel free to jump in) but they both are sizeable RR holding companies. I think the ideas are interesting and fun to work with, but lack a fair amount of depth, so far. But, isn't that part of the fun? LC
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