The Railroad Week in Review:
Third Quarter 2008


Get Adobe AcrobatCurrent Issues

Available in Adobe Acrobat format only. You will need
the free Adobe Acrobat reader.

  • Week in Review, 7/4/2008
    Notes from NS' 7th Annual short line meeting. MMA victim of shifting supply chain trends; lessons for others. RW Baird's Langenfeld on trucking outlook. Fuel tidbits.

  • Week in Review, 7/11/2008
    Tom Wadewitz of JPM pens some thoughtful and useful lines on the recent STB CSX-DuPont "small rate" case. Why gurufocus.com is loaded with the stuff every railroad manager ought to watch very closely. New Pan Am Southern log park in Mechanicville: good or bad for short lines?

  • Week in Review, 7/18/2008
    CSX leads off the second quarter earnings season with a 17% yoy ops income gain on 15% more revenue and just 14% greater ops expense. The CSX Boardroom drama unfolded a bit more as the TCI forces seem to have captured four of the five board seats they were seeking. Genesee & Wyoming Q2 carloads were essentially unchanged yoy.
    RMI’s RailConnect Index for YTD through Week 26 (June 28). Investors Business Daily (IBD) says that at the end of this year’s first half, railroad stocks ranked No. 14 among the 197 industry groups it follows. Watco celebrates its 25 Anniversary this month.

  • Week in Review, 7/25/2008
    We polished off the Big Six earnings calls this week and it was clearly a tale of two houses: the US roads did exceptionally well; the Canadians had their challenges. Across the board, pricing is holding up and roads are using the lull in revenue units to get their houses in order. Summary tables at end.

  • Week In Review, 8/1/2008
    Kansas City Southern brings up the markers for the Class I Earnings Season with a very respectable 26% operating income gain. Roger Nelson on how the interstate highway system changed the railroad industry. The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad (CORP) seeks permission to abandon ownership of the Coos Bay rail line. Steel scrap dealers up in arms over a proposed AAR rule change for open-top gons. Economic Planning Associates raises 2008 estimate of rail car deliveries to 54,000 units. RailTrends Expo reminder.

  • Week in Review, 8/8/2008
    GWR posts strong 2Q08 results, buys Ohio Central system for less than 8x forward ebitda. Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corp of Lakeville, NY reorganizes under new Board of Directors. The scrap steel saga from last week continues. Larry the K holds forth on entitlements. Though revenue unit counts may have been off, revenue ton-miles were not; who cares and why?

  • Week in Review, 8/15/2008
    Rail stocks sell off but Wall Street takes it as a lull. Why short lines need to be more aggressive about sharing in the rate increases. How to stay ahead of how much the Class I is charging for any commodity-OD pair. Rounding out the scrap metal carload thread. Book reviews. RailTrends reminder.

  • Week in Review, 8/22/2008
    What to expect from Week in Review. Tracking your results against the
    larger community. Short line carloads for Week 31; three leading commodity
    groups. How NS illustrates the "trend is your friend" rule. Third quarter
    insights from Ed Wolfe. P&W second quarter reflects strong carload shift.
    Dahlman Rose Global Transportation Conference in NY Sep 10-11.

  • Week in Review 8/29/2008
    No Week in Review. I'm out riding trains.

  • Week in Review, 9/5/2008
    ASLRRA's Rich Timmons provides some sobering thoughts on the economy. The short line solution. Wild Cards in the economic outlook. The cost of the kindness of strangers. "Firm Value" as a call option on a short line's assets. Rick Paterson on earnings drivers apart from car-counts.

  • Week in Review, 9/12/2008
    Economic outlook from Charles Schwab & Co Chief Investment Strategist. STB turns down CN request for expedited process on the J. Week 35 rail traffic remains soft; short lines share the funk. Two GWR lines get FRA grants. California's Richmond Terminal RR doing well thanks to high density. CP's Kathryn McQuade to CFO.

  • Week in Review, 9/19/2008
    Why the present credit crunch will limit marginal short lines' access to working capital. A walk through a sample shortline balance sheet -- worth more dead than alive? A time to buy railroad stocks? Dahlman-Rose financial conference take-aways. Rick Paterson on the relationship between fuel price and rail earnings. Pacific Harbor Lines completes loco fleet conversion to 100% low-emission units.

  • Week in Review, 9/26/2008
    Some thoughts on why it's not pretty out there and where railroads might take the hits. A brighter view from Rick Paterson at UBS. Ed Wolfe sees rails "unaffected" though marginal operations may be in for it. Encouraging words re outlooks for UP, CSX, NS. Week 37 carload analysis ex-intermodal. Why CSX scores well with short lines. How high oil prices affect supply chain patterns and how the rails can take advantage. Shortline tidbits.







 

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

THE BLANCHARD COMPANY
2041 Christian Street - Philadelphia PA 19146-1338
Roy Blanchard.215-913-7740 mobile, royblan@icloud.com
Laura Blanchard, 215-985-1445, lblanchard@rblanchard.com

Site contents copyright 1995-2020 The Blanchard Company except as indicated herein. All rights reserved.

home home Home Laura Blanchard - personal page Roy Blanchard - personal page Search the site Resources for the Railroad Industry The Railroad Week in Review