The fact is that shortlines are the scabs of the industry. They are like the peasants that searching for bread crumbs. Most of them were started by foamers that thought they knew how to railroad and thought they could run a business. This fallacy has been quickly exposed on so many shortlines.

Now I know many love shortlines and think they are the best with their antique equipment and foamer leaning tendency, but many of them are just delaying the inevitable and that is the dying off of many lines. There is a reason the Class 1's got rid of the lines. They sucked and had low margins/potential.

Many shortlines are run by dreamers that live in a fairy tail land of getting to play big trains. They often don't have the business experience or government compliance expertises necessary to fully understand the complexities of the industry. Nor do many of them have any social interaction or marketing experience.

So, with that generalization out of the way, Most of the Shortlines are run/managed by Class 1 hand-me-downs or rejects, or up-and-coming foamers. Do to the long term vision and strategy of a RR being a going concern (be it Class 1 or the smallest shortline) The corporate world or profits does not justice to the lines either. So whos left the run a shortline that understands the balance of both these things? Not many, and the highly successful Shortlines have probably found some of these people.

Now being a shipper and having some kind of expectations of a RR is a fallacy too. Committed partners have a creed with the RR, and that is extremely valuable. So many new players have come to the plate to only walk away a few strikes latter while adding nothing to the RR but a waste of time that they expect that as the norm.

From the original post I get the feeling that He is trying to work with many different lines. And while his total Transportation Budget might be large, when diced up and spread out it is not big $$$ to any of the short lies involved.

Money talks, if you go put it on the table, make a commitment in a contract to number or cars shipped and guarantee payment for that number even if you for some magical reason DON'T ship them I bet the RR's would be muc more receptive to you and your proposals.

As has been said, RR is not a game but a business. Decisions must be made based on managements perception about how it will affect the bottom line. And while frustrating, no one can really argue with that.

-"?" AKA Michael Dumbs