Know the Territory

One of my favorite musicals is “The Music Man,” which begins with a group of turn-of-the-20th-century salesmen complaining about how folks simply don’t know their territories, played out (appropriately) to the background beat of a steam locomotive. Ironically, most of the salesmen in the musical who actually knew their territories worked for companies that manufactured anvils and buggy whips, and would soon be out of business. The lesson to be learned here is that even though we think we know the territory, we may not.

I believe the biggest challenge facing the movement of over-dimensional cargo by rail today is that the railroads are trying to handle increasingly larger products with insufficient planning in seriously constrained time frames. This happens primarily because our customers may not be familiar with our territory. So, in an effort to eliminate some of these problems, I offer the following unofficial thoughts.

-- Plan far in advance: I am constantly amazed by what a railroad can do if given enough time to plan for an over-dimensional move. We have a customer that, beginning in 2012, will move some of the biggest and heaviest components I have ever seen. We have already been working with them for more than a year. To handle this complex traffic, we will need to correct clearance issues, raise track, rebuild bridges and possibly saw the eaves off the roof of one of our depots. But we’ll be ready come 2012 because these folks have planned and planned again.

-- Assume nothing will go right: Candidly, contingency plans are always good things, even if the railroads tell you they have it under control. Asking “what if” during the planning phase is worth its weight in gold when the shipment actually moves. The same folks planning the aforementioned 2012 shipments have never stopped asking “what if,” and they have asked some questions we never thought about (and should have).

-- Communication is everything: In addition to planning, nothing guarantees a successful move like communication. Most anyone involved in the transportation of over-dimensional products can probably tell you this. The problems arise in the when and how you communicate, so allow me to add another rule: Don’t wait until there is a problem. Know your railroad contacts and make certain they know when your product is about to move and when it needs to be there. Never assume we know your product has encountered a problem if you haven’t given us a heads-up that it is about to move.