Roy Blanchard is a Contributing Editor for Railway Age and has written extensively on shortline operations, marketing and finance. Recent articles include a discussion of Paper Barriers, unique and creative coal projects, economics of car leasing, and how shortlines can differentiate themselves from the competition. Going further back, Blanchard wrote a Shortline Advocate series that ran for more than ten years. All these articles and more are available on line by clicking on the embedded links below.

Index to Articles

Recent

[coming soon]

Roy Blanchard's Best Practices (formerly The Marketing Advocate) appeared in issues of Railway Age every other month September 1991 through June 2002, with occasional feature articles as well.

2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1991-1994

2002 Columns

• Making the Interchange Work
  June 2002 -- Making the interchange work better will help simplify the carload network by taking out inconsistency and random events
• How Important is the RIA?
  April 2002 -- Some shortline acquirers may find it a tempting prospect to try to undo the non-compete agreements they signed with the sellers.
• Planning, Perseverence, and Performance Measurement
  February 2002 -- At 130 carloads per mile per year the Eastern Idaho enjoys 13% better density than the average shortline, 72% more carloads per locomotive, and 78% more carloads per employee.

2001 Columns

• Why BNSF Needs Strong Shortline Partners
  December 2001 -- BNSF is looking for strong shortline partners as they invest and divest for the greatest return.
• Five Steps to Better Supply Chain Performance
  October 2001 -- There are clear signs that the industry is beginning to appreciate performance concerns.
• You can't fix what you can't measure
  August 2001 -- The view from here is that the customer measures performance in some other way than the railroad does
• Strong railroads need strong supply chains
  June 2001 -- The concept is managing information, not just trains
• New short line realities
  April 2001 -- Operating economics drive the cost side of the ledger for all sizes of carriers.
• A carload business model that works
  February 2001 -- "Run big trains whenever there are enough cars" no longer applies.

Archives: 2000 Columns

• Wooing, winning, and keeping customers
  "We have to listen to customers and do what it takes to meet their expectations."
• Look, act, and deliver -- like a truck
  October 2000 -- The industry needs to invest its resources in increasing velocity.
• Can Railroads be the Hundred-ton Gorilla?
  August 2000 -- Lines of business that cost too dear must be exited.
• Why is Car Supply Such a Mess?
  June 2000 -- Car supply is the biggest part of what the railroad sells.
• Does E-commerce Have a Place on the Railroad?
  April 2000 -- As firms turn to the Internet to manage their businesses, they have less patience with suppliers -- including the railroads -- that are not Net-friendly.
• Planning for Profit
  February 2000 -- Now's the time to be looking at ways to grow the franchise by replacing poor yielding customers with better ones.

Archives: 1999 Columns

• Railroad.com
  December 1999--You can buy and sell stocks, books, and plane tickets on line. Why not rail freight transportation?
• There's No Such Thing as a "Free" Car
  November 1999--Short lines must reduce car-hire expense by managing it more effectively. Car-hire relief is not the answer.
• Rethinking the Paradigm
  September 1999--Each Class I has its own business model and works best with the partners who fit the model.
• Canadian National Walks the Talk
  July 1999--At Canadian National, it's not about CN versus the short lines.
• What Will It Do for the Customer?
  May 1999--What's good for you had better be good for your Class I, too.
• Mastering the Mix
  Revenue per train-start is critical--especially when revenue-per-car is falling.
• Mission Accomplished
  January 1999--How the Wisconsin Central is practicing its mission statement.

Archives: 1998 Columns

• Think About Redefining Your Class I Relationships
  January 1998--Improving short line results at no (or little) cost to the Class I to benefit all parties.
• How a "Safety Attitude" Improves Appearance and Profitability
  March 1998--Clean and safe are more closely related than you think, and have a major impact on the bottom line.
• Are Short Lines and Class Is Experiencing a Serious Disconnect?
  May 1998--Both sides must shoulder a share of blame for strategic partnerships gone awry.
• STB's Conrail-breakup Conditions are a Cure for Some Short Line Ills
  July 1998--CSX and NS have devised many settlement options that should enhance relationships with connecting short lines.
• Back to Basics
  September 1998--A return to basic customer-oriented operations works in England as well as in the United States.
• Railroad Industry Agreement: Salvation, or More of the Same?
  November 1998--A look at the new template for Class I/short line working relationships.

Archives: 1997 Columns

• Now What?
  January 1997 -- How secure is your business in the face of the Conrail merger? A look at customer value drivers and how to make sure your service provides them.
• Are You Prepared for the Conrail Merger?
  March 1997 -- Weighing the competing CSX and Norfolk Southern proposals, and their implications for short lines.
• Life After Conrail
  May 1997 -- A look at what the breakup of Conrail, with parts going to CSX and parts to NS, will mean for short lines.
• Managing Your Customers
  June 1997 -- Another look at the dark side of demurrage.
• CSX-NS-Conrail Deal: 120 Days and Counting
  July 1997 -- The Surface Transportation Board wants to preserve existing competition. Is this a hunting license for short lines looking for new access? When you have a case, and when you don't.
• So--Are You Making Any Money?
  September 1997 -- These shortliners build revenue from the opportunities as hand.
• CSX-NS-Conrail Deal: The Buzzer Sounds
  Now that the shortlines have filed their concerns, how will they fare?

Archives: 1996 Columns

• So You Want to Buy a Railroad?
  January 1996 -- All that's left on the Monopoly board is the Short Line. Do you want to buy it? Are you in a position to buy it? And can you make it work?
• One Stop Shopping?
  March 1996 -- When to rely on, and when to reach out beyond, your connecting class I partner.
• What's Wrong With This Picture?
  May 1996 -- The typical boxcar cycle -- load release-empty-place for load -- is about 27 days. No wonder you can never find one when you really need it.
• There's More Than One Way To Find a Boxcar
  July 1996 -- Shortlines looking for their class I partners to shield them from the effects of the dwindling boxcar fleet had better look to themselves for a long-term solution.
• Remember Rule One
  September 1996 -- How the Iron Bound Railway and the Arizona & California are throwing away the old playbooks and designing service offerings to meet shipper needs.
• Another Country Heard From
  November 1996 - From north of the border, a class I finds a new way of working with its short line partners. Is it working? Wall Street seems to think so.

Archives: 1995 Columns:

• Don't limit yourself to one Class I connection
  January 1995 -- Access to more than one Class I means competitive access: it gives you and your shippers options, and encourages connecting Class Is to think twice before taking a particular piece of business for granted.
• How to earn more money per train-start
  March 1995 -- Looking at yield per carload and yield per train-start offers a fresh new perspective on both the economics and the synergies of running a railroad.
• How to uncouple demurrage charges from car-hire
  May 1995 -- Demurrage is not a profit center; it's a sign of a sick logistical system. The less of it you charge, the healthier your railroad and the happier your shippers.
• It's time to shed those "ice cream shoes"
  July 1995 -- Management-by-Walking-Around builds short line value, but it takes work boots as well as tassel loafers to do it.
• Value for all stakeholders
  September 1995 -- Why the publicly-traded Class II and III lines who consider the needs of all their stakeholders are consistently outperforming the slash-and-burn Class Is.
• Creating customer value
  November 1995 -- A bias for action and a commitment to staying close to the customer drives these two successful short lines.

• The Taking of Car 12723
  July 1991 -- a look at a nightmarish sixteen-plus-day move of a test car for a potential customer.
• We are all marketers
  November 1991 -- Most workers on a feeder line wear many hats. Here's why the "marketer hat" should be one of them for everyone.
• Stop demonizing your Class I
  January 1992 -- Although Class I bashing is a satisfying sport among many shortliners, it damages the relationship with your best customer.
• Niche or be niched
  March 1992 -- On the benefits of niche marketing for the feeder railroad.
• How to get first class service from your Class I
  May 1992 -- Class I resources that help build short line business.
• Beating the trucks at just-in-time
  July 1992 -- Just-in-time doesn't necessarily mean off-the-railroad. A case study of one feeder line manager's successful fight to keep a just-in-time convert shipping on his line.
• Capitalizing on the Elkins exemption
  September 1992 -- How the ICC helped to level the playing field for the railroads, and how the feeder line can benefit.
• Demurrage as a marketing tool
  November 1992 -- A "Dear Customer" letter that explains this contentious issue and turns it into an opportunity to improve service.
• Railroad business has many "owners." Here are a few.
  January 1993 -- Every railroad employee has an ownership stake in every customer's business, which is what marketing is all about.
• Change--or die
  March 1993 -- The Fallen Flag & Eastern saw no need to change. Where is it now? Change is nowhere nearly so threatening when it's understood, and when it's a change you've had a hand in.
• Unconventional thinking can make for success.
  May 1993 -- Yesterday's conventional wisdom is today's gibberish in an era of rapid change. Here are some ways feeder lines are defying conventional wisdom and doing the "impossible."
• To build business, you've got to go see the people
  July 1993 -- It's been proven that a manager is only as good as his market intelligence. The best way to gather intelligence along your railroad is to go out and look.
• To win new customers, do your homework
  September 1993 -- Common customer objections to rail service, and how to address them.
• Quality means going beyond the buzzwords
  November 1993 -- Use your scrounging, finagling, and scavenging skills in the marketing arena to deliver results to your customers.
• To win business, demonstrate your price advantage
  January 1994 -- Demonstrating your price advantage may seem self-evident, but if you and your customer aren't speaking the same language you'll never be able to show the savings. Some ways to break the language barrier.
• Ask yourself: would you ship on your railroad?
  March 1994 -- Take a good look at your railroad's operations, through the smudged bifocals of a harried, overburdened and perplexed shipper. It may just dictate your strategic plan for the next six months.
• It's time to "fix the process." Short lines can do it best
  May 1994 -- If you have to end-run the system all the time, it's time to overhaul the system. Here are ways some short lines have done just that.
• Short line stages a crash -- and sends a message
  July 1994 -- Why the Aberdeen Carolina & Western wasted an '89 Olds for the CNN cameras.
• Fingering the culprits on car supply
  September 1994 -- Whose fault is it this time? The answer may surprise you.
• Class Is are your customers -- not "evil step-parents" Let's review: who "buys" all our outbound freight? So why aren't we treating them nicely?

Week in Review | Resources | Search | Roy Blanchard | Laura Blanchard | Home

THE BLANCHARD COMPANY
2041 Christian Street - Philadelphia PA 19146-1338 (215) 985-1110 voice - (215) 985-1446 fax
Roy Blanchard, rblanchard@rblanchard.com
Laura Blanchard, lblanchard@rblanchard.com

Site contents copyright 1995-2005 The Blanchard Company except as indicated herein. All rights reserved.