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For what it's worth, DM&E is privately held, but if you've read the papers lately they are interested in investment partners if not actual stockholders. On that PCE thing, a few years back after the Milwaukee retrenchment, there were pieces of the line that were bought up by regional business people with the intent of maintaining the option of reviving future operations. One guy bought the tracks from Avery to Haugen over St Paul Pass, while the local timber company bought the main from Avery to Plummer. Unfortunately for railfans (but not so unfortunate for the ones that bought the lines) the Forest Service went to court to force the sale of these ROW's to them so they could build a highway over the ROW from St Maries to Avery, create a new gravel road over the ROW from Avery to Pearson, and build the mountain bike trail from Pearson to Haugen over St Paul Pass. Too bad, but it should be noted that both buyers made significant capital gains, perhaps more in the short run than they ever could have hoped to make actually running a railroad. The difference for the one guy was that he wanted to eventually use the ROW as a bridge line for either BN or UP, which if it would have come to fruition really could have made him some money if he could have held out through the dry 80's and 90's until now. Another good example of buying a former piece of mainline for future capital gains is the Montana Western (the former BN nee-NP section from Garrison to Silver Bow near Butte), which BNSF just bought back (ostensibly to keep UP and MRL from interchanging). Again, the original shortline owners were crying all the way to the bank. It is also interesting to note that the tracks over Homestake Pass are still in place and owned by BNSF, thought they haven't seen action in decades. That's why it is not so far fetched that the ex-Milwaukee line from Lombard through Sixteenmile Canyon to the Harlowtown area would have made a good "rail banking" investment. If nothing else, you would have had a preferable route between Billings and Helena for BN/BNSF/MRL bridge traffic, since this ROW has superior gradient and alignment to the ex-NP line over Bozeman Pass. Therefore, as much as the idea of owning and running a quaint shortline is to you, you should never discount the prospect of your shortline becoming part of a secondary main, especially today with current mainline capacity at the breaking point. That overhead revenue will trump anything you can make online.
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