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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Engine of change



 (The Spokesman-Review)

It’s every boy’s dream.

Todd Havens runs his own little railroad west of Spokane, driving his own locomotive up and down a 4.9-mile stretch of track called the Geiger spur. The short line peels off the main Burlington Northern Santa Fe line, runs through Fairchild Air Force Base, and reaches several businesses in Airway Heights.

A self-described “train guy,” it doesn’t get a whole lot better, Havens said.

Havens’ company is called Western Rail Inc. And while running the short line satisfies a fascination with trains dating back to grade school, the main business of Western Rail is buying, repairing, leasing and selling older locomotives.

Getting into the business took some sacrifice. Havens financed the start of Western Rail by selling his Harley Davidson motorcycle. It was a Soft Tail, he said, a honey of a bike with a low-slung profile, plenty of chrome and of course the telltale rumble.

Western Rail fills an obscure yet growing niche in an industry dominated by a few titans such as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads.

The rise of mom-and-pop, short line railroad companies is a direct result of the big players focusing on their core business of running main lines and moving large amounts of freight from city to city. The big companies are eager to exit the little spur lines that provide vital links for companies dependent on materials delivered by rail.

It all means that short line operators need dependable and affordable locomotives. Western Rail buys used locomotives, repairs and repaints them and then leases or sells the engines, which run from $30,000 to $200,000 in price, Havens said.

After running a small business brokering locomotives for 12 years out of a Spokane office, Havens decided the time was right to grow.

About 1½ years ago, he paid $500,000 for acreage in the Airway Heights industrial area. The spur line allowed him to buy locomotives in the region and have them delivered directly to his repair yard. The arrangement seemed a sure thing.

Then BNSF surprised Havens and other West Plaines businesses by announcing it no longer wanted to operate the Geiger spur. That decision put several businesses and several hundred jobs on the line.

“Without the spur, we’d be sunk,” Havens said. “Here I had just dropped all that money on property, then we’re faced with the spur shutting down. It wasn’t good.”

The economic threat prompted Spokane County to get involved. The county took over the line from BNSF and then leased it to Havens, who knew a lot about locomotives, but not as much about running a railroad.

But despite an avalanche of paperwork and government regulations, running the short line is working. Havens said he’s hit on a financial formula that makes the short line a break-even business right now. If he picks up new customers, or the spur is extended and more industry moves into area, he stands to profit. There are plans to reroute the track around Fairchild, a move that would save time, money and the hassle of complying with stricter base security in the wake of Sept. 11.

Havens said the changes are all happening at the right time. Business is growing and within five years he plans to triple the number of Western Rail employees to perhaps 15. He points to his growing business as a positive sign that the country’s economic doldrums may be ending.

“Railroads are an indicator of the economy,” he said. “They begin to pick up or slow down months before most everyone else.”

Business has been so good, Havens said, that he bought himself a new Harley.