True, but these lines also primarily served a declining industry (timber), and most that you list had miles and miles of infrastructure to maintain with large distances between revenue customers, or worse yet, serve a single customer.

With around 550 shortlines and regionals in the United States, there is pretty much constantly a small segment of the industry hanging on by a thread at any given moment. On the other side of the spectrum, there are plenty of lines absolutely booming with traffic no one ever imagined just a few years ago. Take the shortlines in the area of the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields in the Northeast. Some, such as the Wellsboro and Corning, have gone from handling just a few hundred cars of freight per year to traffic counts in the thousands annually.

I'd estimate for every one shortline which ceases operations, there are probably 5 who have grown their traffic exponentially. Overall, it's a healthy population. But for those operating large systems with little online business, or worse yet, serving a single customer in a declining industrial sector, you might want to shoot them while they're still around...

Mike Derrick
[www.shortlinesusa.com]