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

• Real-time Rate-making for Real-time Customers Comes to Short Lines
  April 2011 (sample of more recent articles)

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?

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