Lack of money surely causes plenty of misery. But, having plenty of money doesn't always cure one of misery. It does, however, allow one to be miserable in so much more comfort.....

Back to the original topic, while coal is down nearly 35%, oil off by about half of that, and metal ores by half again for the choo-choo industry..... miscellaneous and auto carload categories are actually up significantly, other sectors are stable, and rail hauled TEU's, both domestic and foreign, continue to rise steadily.

The improved "fluidity" of the rail network, especially from the Rockies to the Chicago/St. Louis/Memphis gateways from less coal traffic, and aggressive RR sales staffs are apparently making that market segment more competitive with trucks, despite lower fuel prices. And, the farmers seem to have stopped whining so much about bad service, as some of those RR's, with the loss of high volume and very profitable "fracking" traffic, tying up those lines, have now suddenly become more "customer" oriented......