Altamont Press Discussion Board :: Discussion

on TMBL (from KFR thread)

Author: good point, retired

Date: 10-29-2019 - 04:58

Yes, TMBL is a successful public entity shortline. Reference was to rural counties or port districts taking on desperate causes. It was much easier 30-40 years ago for them or a designee to 'figure it out' and get the traffic back. Much less forgiving now. Biggest challenge is probably the slim labor force.

Terminal railroads in a natural 'hot zone' (like a west coast port) - how does one screw that up? Few do. Doesn't translate though to, we'll just say, low density spinoffs. Correction or clarification taken.

Eastside grain - in many counties, over 50% of it doesn't even hit an upland elevator - farmer semi straight to river terminal. You can see many of the old concrete silos that dotted (or still dot) the old branchlines are just silently standing - and doing little more now.

What's funny is most states realize (academically) they don't charge enough for trucking. They don't want to do much about that, but toss nickels at the shortlines in small attempt to cross-subsidize. Probably the biggest subsidy is the speed provided trucking by auto-road standards. How else would a 20 ton package be able to keep up, much less run circles around the train?

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on TMBL (from KFR thread)	good point, retired	10-29-2019 - 04:58

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good point, retired Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, TMBL is a successful public entity shortline.
>  Reference was to rural counties or port districts
> taking on desperate causes.  It was much easier
> 30-40 years ago for them or a designee to 'figure
> it out' and get the traffic back.  Much less
> forgiving now.  Biggest challenge is probably the
> slim labor force.
> 
> Terminal railroads in a natural 'hot zone' (like a
> west coast port) - how does one screw that up? 
> Few do.  Doesn't translate though to, we'll just
> say, low density spinoffs.  Correction or
> clarification taken.
> 
> Eastside grain - in many counties, over 50% of it
> doesn't even hit an upland elevator - farmer semi
> straight to river terminal.  You can see many of
> the old concrete silos that dotted (or still dot)
> the old branchlines are just silently standing -
> and doing little more now.
> 
> What's funny is most states realize (academically)
> they don't charge enough for trucking.  They don't
> want to do much about that, but toss nickels at
> the shortlines in small attempt to
> cross-subsidize.  Probably the biggest subsidy is
> the speed provided trucking by auto-road
> standards.  How else would a 20 ton package be
> able to keep up, much less run circles around the
> train?

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