12-30-2014, 06:25 PM
Justin,
Glad you were able to find some inspiration with the Oregon Pacific operation. During the time that many of these Shortlines started in Oregon it was very creative. Many of them begged borrowed, and maybe even used without permission to get things going. The SP was so happy to spin these operations off them seemed pretty willing to do whatever they needed to in order to get traffic moving. Since many of the operations signed exclusive switching agreements stating they could only interchange with the SP for a specific period of time, letting them borrow stuff was actually making them money.
As you can see with history, the SP had not done enough to keep themselves in the black and was gobbled up by the UP. I know that on some properties the UP was less then happy with what the SP had agreed to provide to some properties and some of the rates were also not to the UP liking. Also as time has moved on most shortlines have been able to open up their interchange options, including other class ones and even direct interchange with other Shortlines.
I look forward to seeing some photos of your layout in the near future!
Glad you were able to find some inspiration with the Oregon Pacific operation. During the time that many of these Shortlines started in Oregon it was very creative. Many of them begged borrowed, and maybe even used without permission to get things going. The SP was so happy to spin these operations off them seemed pretty willing to do whatever they needed to in order to get traffic moving. Since many of the operations signed exclusive switching agreements stating they could only interchange with the SP for a specific period of time, letting them borrow stuff was actually making them money.
As you can see with history, the SP had not done enough to keep themselves in the black and was gobbled up by the UP. I know that on some properties the UP was less then happy with what the SP had agreed to provide to some properties and some of the rates were also not to the UP liking. Also as time has moved on most shortlines have been able to open up their interchange options, including other class ones and even direct interchange with other Shortlines.
I look forward to seeing some photos of your layout in the near future!