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  • A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads
A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #1145540  by SouthernRailway
 
Out of curiosity, and excluding the major short line companies such as Genesee & Wyoming and the like, are many short lines run basically like small businesses, with financing coming from friends & family sources, angel investors and small business bank loans? Or are their financing needs more sophisticated than that?

For an investor seeking to work with short lines, are there any good ways of connecting with them, such as at industry conferences or the like?

Thanks.
 #1149436  by wigwagfan
 
Get a hold of Richard Samuels - he owns the Oregon Pacific Railroad in Milwaukie and is a huge resource and very friendly to railfans. www.oregonpacificrr.com

I know that the WCTU Railway was just bought by an individual; it was owned by Marmon Industries, which is owned by Berkshire Hathway, and was ordered by the STB to divest of it to avoid a regulatory issue with the BNSF takeover. And the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad is owned by an individual (the operating company, anyways - the railroad itself is owned by Clark County, Washington).

Other than those, the other shortlines I'm aware of are either owned by larger companies (i.e. GWI - Portland & Western Railroad, Iowa Pacific - Mount Hood Railroad), governmental agencies (Port of Tillamook Bay, Coos Bay Raillink, City of Prineville) or are tourist railroads and don't really have many financing issues - at least not the same as what you're referring to.