Investing in Railroads

When you are ready to move up from HO (what I had as a kid), what are your choices? I've fantasized about owning a whole railroad. My brother would the the VP. I would drive the train, etc.. But since that is not likely to happen buying railroad stocks are the next best thing. The railroad you can't own is Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway - Warren Buffet already bought it. You can buy Berkshire Hathaway and have a whole bucket of great companies: See's Candies, DQ, Geico and many more. BRK-A is trading at about $ 127,000 per share (um .. out of my pricerange!). BRK-B is approximately 1/1500 of BRK-A and is trading at about $ 85.

The chart above details your investing choices.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. is a short-line railroad holding company that owns or maintains interests in 63 railroads.

RailAmerica likewise is a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada.

Providence and Worcester Railroad is as far as I can tell the only Class II publicly traded railroad.

 The Street here provides their list of the 10 Best Railroad Stocks for 2012. Seeking Alpha has their list of favorites here: Become A Railroad Baron: The Art Of Building Your Own Rail ETF

There is no true Railroad ETF but there is IVT. It offers a way to invest in transportation and have diversification.