Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
And small surprise not all of the rail companies worked. You're talking about private businesses that often had 99-year leases to honor and were essentially traction monopolies so they were heavily regulated. So, you start a company and you take a gamble on development going out a certain way. If it doesn't, maybe you build an amusement park to buy some time. And, yeah, maybe you don't make a profit or go bankrupt, or sell your business. That's what happens with private businesses: Gambles, bad decisions, mismanagement, etc. That's called capitalism.
The electric lines didn't have 99 year leases [[actually franchises, not leases) and in many cases, when the term was up, one on-line town would try to hold a gun to the interurbans head [[despite the interurban's financial problems) and precipitate bankruptcy and abandonment.

The highest total rate of return on investment for ALL of the interurban lines in the US never went over 3%. By the mid-twenties, it was about 1.5%. In 1930, it went negative.