The little guys Jon Knutson, The Forum Published Sunday, October 14, 2007 Wahpeton, N.D. - Curt Goodman sat at the controls of a 2,000-horsepower Red River Valley & Western Railroad locomotive. Black-knobbed levers controlled the throttle, brakes and whistle. As the train approached street crossings, he blasted out a whistled warning: two longs, a short and another long. “Never hit a person. Hit some animals,” Goodman said, who’s worked for the Wahpeton-based railroad since 1990. Half a mile of rail cars stretched behind the locomotive. The cars and the corn syrup in them weighed a combined 1,550 tons. The locomotive – reaching speeds of up to 25 mph – quickly completed the eight-mile trip from the Wahpeton Cargill corn milling plant to Red River Valley & Western’s switching yard in Breckenridge, Minn. Yard foreman Gary Miller checks on a Red River Valley & Western Railroad train before it leaves the Cargill facility north of Wahpeton. The train was hauling cars that were emptied at the plant and other cars that had been filled there before taking them to Breckenridge, where they would be picked up by BNSF for longer journeys. Photos by Dave Wallis / The Forum RELATED CONTENT Curt Goodman gets a Red River Valley & Western Railroad engine moving Otter Tail Valley Railroad train A Red River Valley & Western Railroad train “We got ’er done again,” said Goodman. Though commonplace in itself, the eight-mile trip reflects a remarkable trend. Short line railroads such as Red River Valley & Western – which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year – play a growing economic role both regionally and nationally. The nation’s 550 short lines in 2004 employed about 20,000 people, had gross revenue of $2.8 billion and operated about 50,000 miles of track, according to the most recent numbers available from the Washington, D.C.-based American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. Much of that track is in rural areas that otherwise might not have rail service. Short lines have a particularly big role in agriculture-heavy North Dakota and western Minnesota. “They’re primarily grain gatherers” in this region, said Jack Olson, senior planner for the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Farm and food products accounted for 78 percent of freight railroad traffic in 2005 in North Dakota. They accounted for 28 percent of freight railroad traffic in 2005 in Minnesota. Metallic ores represented 55 percent of the total, which reflects the size of the state’s iron-mining industry. Never heard of short lines? They’re the little guys that do the small jobs, often over short distances in rural areas. “Long trains, big trains, fast trains – nobody in the world does that as well as the big U.S. railroads,” said Dan Zink, director of administration for Red River Valley & Western. “Where the short lines shine is in really getting to know our local markets and customers and offering them flexibility,” he said. Complementary role Small railroads played a big role in America’s economy in the first half of the 19th century. That role declined later because of industry consolidation and, by the 1920s, competition from trucking. By the late 1970s, railroads of all sizes were struggling, in part because of the interstate highway system. But the federal Staggers Rail Act of 1980 gave new life to small railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association said. The act allowed big railroads to shed marginal and unprofitable lines. That created opportunities for smaller, nimbler operators. Between 1980 and 1999, 332 short lines formed. All five of the short lines railroads that serve North Dakota and western Minnesota are among those 332. Short lines typically collect commodities such as grain or manufactured goods from customers along low-density routes, then take the goods to a central location where a big railroad picks them up to transport over longer distances. It works the other way, too. Big railroads bring goods to a central location, where a short line picks them up and distributes them to customers. For instance, Fergus Falls, Minn.-based Otter Tail Valley Railroad Co. connects with industry giant BNSF Railway in Dilworth. “We serve complementary roles,” said Pete Rickershauser, vice president-network development for Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF. BNSF transports goods long distances at high speeds, while short lines collect and distribute products over low-volume lines, he said. In effect, BNSF has outsourced low-volume routes to short lines, he said. Advantages Short lines have several things going in their favor. From BNSF’s perspective, Rickershauser said, short lines do a wonderful job of working with their local business and political leaders. Because of their small size, short lines can tailor their schedules to fit customer needs, said Pam Slifka, vice president and general manager of Otter Tail Valley Railroad. “We don’t tell a customer what we’re going to do. We listen and find out what works best for them,” she said. Her company was named BNSF’s Short Line of the Year for 2007. Short lines typically use older equipment to hold down costs. “We don’t cut corners. But we don’t have the newest or fanciest equipment, either,” Zink said. Short lines also can cut costs by spending less than big railroads on track maintenance, said Olson said. That reflects the slower speeds at which short line trains travel, he said. Short line railroads cut their accident rate in half between 1993 and 2003, but still have work to do in bringing their safety record in line with the rest of the industry, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association said. In 2003, short lines rated 9.5 and the railroad industry as a whole rated 6.1 on an index that measures the number and severity of employee injuries. The lower the number, the better. Short line officials say their companies benefit from cross-trained workers who can do more than one thing. “Again, it’s about providing flexibility for our customers,” Zink said. Short lines also try to provide flexible work schedules and to take employees’ personal and family needs into account, he said. “This might sound kind of corny, but there’s a family atmosphere here at work,” said Dave Volk, manager of Red River Valley & Western Railroad’s car shop department. The Wahpeton railroad was named Railway Age magazine’s Regional Railroad of the Year in 1997 and 2005. Regional railroads are relatively big short lines. Important for ag Rail service from Otter Tail Valley Railroad played a vital role in placing an ethanol plant near Fergus Falls, said Kelly Longtin, chief executive officer of Otter Tail Ag Enterprises. His company is building a plant, scheduled to open in the spring, that will produce 57.5 million gallons of ethanol annually. “Without that rail access, the plant would need to have been built somewhere else,” he said. Another example of what short lines mean to the area: Two years ago BNSF Railway stopped serving a rural stretch of rail between Lakota, N.D., and Sarles, N.D. That threatened the half-dozen grain elevators – and approximately 200 farmers they served – along the track. Without rail service, the elevators would have needed to truck grain, which costs more. But Fordville, N.D.-based Northern Plains Railroad stepped in and bought the 72-mile stretch of track. Jesse Chalich, marketing manager for Northern Plains Railroad, said his company is pleased what how things have worked out. “It’s been a good line for us,” he said. Terry Hall, manager of Munich (N.D.) Elevator & Oil Co., said his elevator probably would have closed without Northern Plains Railroad. “I just don’t think trucking would have worked. Having them come in pretty much saved us,” he said.
