DILLWYN, Va. — Robert Bryant knew the Buckingham Branch rail line in rural Virginia was losing money, a wire service reports.
Trees and brush were crowding the line, the track was deteriorating and its railroad-giant owner, CSX Inc., was ready to abandon it.
But Bryant and his wife, Annie, saw a business opportunity they couldn’t pass up. After two years of negotiations, they bought the 17.3-mile line, a station, an engine and a caboose from CSX in 1989 for $75,000.
With their railroad investment the Bryants joined a surge of interest in short-line railroads that started in 1980 when the federal government enacted partial deregulation, making it easier for big rail operators to shed their small, often unprofitable lines.
Now totaling about 550 railroads, up from 200 just two decades ago, industry watchers expect these tiny, rickety lines to top 1,000 in the next decade.
Some have become profitable, even lucrative properties, as small-line operators cut costs and try to market more personalized local services than the railroad giants.
Bryant knew the Buckingham Branch from having grown up 10 miles from the Dillwyn train station, about 60 miles west of Richmond, Va.
“I saw it as a wonderful opportunity, and so far I haven’t been disappointed,” said Bryant.
With only 11 customers, carrying sand, wood and other freight to a well-maintained CSX interchange, the Buckingham Branch is part of a bigger trend in rail that has seen nearly a third of U.S. track managed by short-line operators.
With operating revenues of $20 million or less, they ship goods for small businesses who would otherwise be forgotten by the major rail carriers focused on wooing big shippers.
Short-lines work to keep businesses happy, and more likely to stick to rail, by providing flexible service that includes making unscheduled freight pick-ups and deliveries.
Knouse Foods Co-operative, the country’s largest fruit processor, says the 25-mile short-line serving its facility helps cut costs and move products more efficiently.
“The short-line better understands our business, the need to deliver products and the importance of timeliness,” said Robert Weary, a spokesman for the co-op.
Short-lines operate and maintain 29 percent of railroad line in the United States, or about 50,000 miles of track, and haul 9 percent of all rail freight.
LEISURELY PACE
The Buckingham Branch train chugs along at a leisurely 10 miles per hour, engaging in a monotonous and time-consuming series of stops and starts, picking up a few rail cars here and there.
The 1,500 horsepower engine shakes and grumbles through the Virginia countryside, passing beaver ponds and scattering wild turkeys along its route.
That’s a far cry from the 50 mph or 60 mph clip attained by major railroads with automatic switches that allow them to roar across the country exceeding more than a hundred cars in length.
Always cash-strapped, short-lines such as the Buckingham Branch, are forced to find clever ways to cut costs and have a versatile staff to do a little bit of everything. Still, the properties have found willing buyers.
“There is still intense competition by buyers for lines that become available,” said Alice Saylor, a vice president with American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
America’s fondness for the railroad is one of the things that keep interest in short-lines alive.
“I love railroad. It’s in my system and I can’t get it out,” said Bernard Patterson, a fourth-generation railroader who works for the Bryants.
“It’s something different every day. One day I do track maintenance, and come back and do the train the next,” he said.
SOME LARGE OPERATORS
But not all short lines are mom-and-pop operations.
RailAmerica Inc. purchased its first railroad in 1986 for $1.4 million from CSX and now has 39 lines totaling some 11,000 miles of track.
“Almost every railroad we bought was not profitable with its prior owner,” said Gary Marino, chief executive who founded the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company with his brother.
“We put in cost controls, new operating procedures to run them properly, and we turned them around,” Marino said.
The Bryants say they have yet to collect a penny from the business. The Buckingham railroad, which has been profitable since 1990, uses the surplus to pay employees, fix tracks and purchase used equipment.
Last year, the Buckingham Branch posted its best year ever, hauling 2,515 carloads on revenue of $551,419. The railroad has more than doubled its annual carload from 1,035 in 1990 when revenue totaled $229,000.
Bryant has received numerous offers to buy the line, but says he enjoys railroading too much to give serious consideration to selling it.
“We’re just not moved to sell it,” said Bryant. “I’ve seen some of the things I didn’t like happen to small railroads when they were bought by large industries.”