I'm tired of seeing no discussion in this forum, and thought this would be an appropriate topic.
In the 1980s, the United States saw the rise of all sorts of Class II railroads from the ashes of CRI&P and CMStP&P, as well as secondary Class I mains. They were more nimble than the remaining Class Is and able to actually develop business on their "played-out" branchlines. Foremost in my mind are the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern, the Wisconsin Central, and the Washington Group's lines (Montana RailLink and Iowa-Minnesota RailLink.) They built up little empires in their regions, and there was even some discussion about those lines providing an alternative to BNSF and UP from Chicago to the Pacific, using abandoned MILW right-of-way.
Today, that's reversed. Aside from MRL, all of the above lines are part of Class Is, and MRL may as well be BNSF's line again. There's no more talk about reopening the Milwaukee from Spokane to the Pacific, nor of attempting to get trackage rights to lines like the Kyle (to Denver) or the TP&W (to the east.) The northeastern Class IIs are still relatively independent, but the west is essentially a BNSF or UP game, dictating their whims to their subservient Class III lines.
Why did they falter so much? Was their rise directly due to the weak state of the Class I industry, and their fall due to the Class I mergers and unwillingness to tolerate competition, or were other factors at play?
In the 1980s, the United States saw the rise of all sorts of Class II railroads from the ashes of CRI&P and CMStP&P, as well as secondary Class I mains. They were more nimble than the remaining Class Is and able to actually develop business on their "played-out" branchlines. Foremost in my mind are the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern, the Wisconsin Central, and the Washington Group's lines (Montana RailLink and Iowa-Minnesota RailLink.) They built up little empires in their regions, and there was even some discussion about those lines providing an alternative to BNSF and UP from Chicago to the Pacific, using abandoned MILW right-of-way.
Today, that's reversed. Aside from MRL, all of the above lines are part of Class Is, and MRL may as well be BNSF's line again. There's no more talk about reopening the Milwaukee from Spokane to the Pacific, nor of attempting to get trackage rights to lines like the Kyle (to Denver) or the TP&W (to the east.) The northeastern Class IIs are still relatively independent, but the west is essentially a BNSF or UP game, dictating their whims to their subservient Class III lines.
Why did they falter so much? Was their rise directly due to the weak state of the Class I industry, and their fall due to the Class I mergers and unwillingness to tolerate competition, or were other factors at play?