Hi all. Im new to this forum so tell me if i posted this in the wrong place, but I wanted to know if I (Im 14 so i still have a long way to go before I start a shortline. Im doing this for a school report) where to in the future puchase 20 miles of branchline trackage from a railroad (say, CP) and begin a shortline railroad, how would I go about doing that? If i owned and operated the line, do I have to pay CP a sum to interchange the cars? or does my railroad just drop them off, and pick them up, no charge at all?
CP would charge the shipper or consignee depending on whether freight was prepaid or collect.
As between your shortline and CP, the most simple arrangement is that you would be the "switching carrier". Under this arrangement CP publishes the rate, collects the funds, supplies the equipment, and pays you an agreed amount per car.
You would probably have a simplified car hire agreement by which you would have so many hours of free time after which you would start to pay car hire. This could be an average agreement, that is time of all cars would be averaged. In addition you could earn care hire from CP if your actual hours were less than tha agreed standard.
There are other arrangements. This is a summary of the least complex.
Mac McCulloch
Former VP Marketing of a shortline railroad
Rafter:
Need to pay heed to what MacMcCulloch(PNWRMNM) says...Good advice from a seasoned railroader.
Many of the Short Line operators start out with switching contracts; possibly in large industrial parks and believe or not in 'Retired' military base properties, many can have lots of track and can be advantageous for seasonal car storage.
A couple of suggestions you might look at:
WATCO Inc. (from their website) @ http://www.watcocompanies.com/switching_services.htm
RJ Corman RR Grp @ http://www.rjcorman.com/switching/index.html
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.