carajul wrote:Based on the condition of the M&E track and the dismal # of customers, I'd say the M&E is going to be 'history' soon lol.
I'm fairly sure we're here to stay. In the past three years that I've been flying the flags of the marketing department, car numbers have been increasing on all four branch lines (and in Bayway), we've gotten two new online customers, and we've built a new transload facility. The M&E's track condition has really never been stellar (just look at some old pictures), but then again, we're not running an Acela, and what we have serves our purposes just fine. We're one of the very few railroads left in the metropolis of New York that can truly offer personalized, individualized customer service, and this is a trait that many other companies respect and prefer. While it may be somewhat old-fashioned to talk to me in Morristown instead of a nameless, faceless customer service representative in Atlanta or Jacksonville, it's a business model that is serving us well, and will continue to do so.
ccutler wrote:Carajul, don't bet on it. Garbely's probably an excellent marketer and volumes appear to be growing. NS wants to shed 1000 miles and I hope ME gets the Washington Secondary.
Thanks for the kind words! And remember the saying: "a Class I's trash is a short line's treasure."