Short in length but long on long-haul thinking, the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railway Co. moves grain, wood chips and lumber along a 140-mile stretch through rural North Carolina. With the exception of Charlotte, "the biggest town we run through has 3,000 people," says Roger King, ACWR's general manager. Most of ACWR's customers aren't all that big, either. Many move 10 cars a year. That makes retaining the big customers the short line does serve absolutely critical. Even if doing so means making multimillion-dollar infrastructure investments.
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