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 by Terry Cox
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Decision Matrix
for deciding which companies to include or exclude from this project		  

 

Database of company names. I maintain a large database of names of railroad companies and companies that were related to railroading within North America. Even though the names database has been growing for over twenty years (!), certificates continually appear with names of unlisted companies.

Whenever certificates appear from unlisted companies, I must first decide whether to list those companies or not. I discuss general considerations on a page titled, Thoughts about which companies to list in the database ... and which to reject.

Here is the decision process. This page formalizes my decision process when faced with new company names. Obviously, I cannot possibly predict all the imaginative name variations I will encounter in the future. Therefore, I constantly update this page when new problems appear.

1 Is there indication that the company operated or planned to operate in North America (Panama to the North Pole including the Caribbean islands and Hawaii)?
    Yes = proceed to 2
    No = not listed in catalog
     
2

Does the company name include any of these words or reasonable variations thereof?

  • railroad, rail road, RR
  • railway, rail way
  • interurban
  • streetcar
  • traction
  • subway
  • tramway, tranvias
  • funicular
  • gravity
  • incline
  • ferrocarril, ferro carril
  • eisenbahn
  • tren
  • chemin de fer
    Yes = proceed to 3
    No = proceed to 12
     
3 Does the company seem to have been one that carried (or planned to carry) passengers and/or freight?
    Yes = proceed to 4
    No = proceed to 5
     
4 Is there any information or implication that the company operated within an amusement park, airport, mine, or within some other kind of private facility?
    Yes = proceed to 20
    No = company listed in catalog
     
5 Does it appear that a public entity (village, town, city, township, county, state, country) pledged funds to a rail-related company?
    Yes = listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 6
     
6 Does the company seem to have manufactured CRUCIAL railroad operating equipment (motors, rails, switches, signals, rolling stock, ties, spikes, etc) and that equipment would have been little used in any other industries.
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 7
     
7 Does the company seem to have been a railroad supply company?
    Yes = proceed to 8
    No = proceed to 9
     
8 Was the company formally incorporated?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
9 Does the company seem to have dealt in rail-related securities?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 10
     
10 Does the name imply a labor union or association?
    Yes = proceed to 20
    No = proceed to 11
     
11 Is there COMPELLING evidence from other sources that this catalog would be among the first places that certificate collectors would look for information? Customary inclusion among railroad certificates in auction catalogs might constitute sufficient evidence. Bridge companies are normally NOT included.
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
12 Does the company name imply involvement in one of these industries or categories?
    Amusement parks = proceed to 20
    Brewing companies = proceed to 20
    Bridge companies = proceed to 11
    Companies with "Line" in name = proceed to 14
    Construction companies = proceed to 11
    Depot, station or terminal companies = proceed to 18
    Despatch or dispatch companies
    Development companies = proceed to 17
    Diversified companies = proceed to 17
    Elevator companies = proceed to 20
    Equipment leasing companies or trusts = proceed to 18
    Express companies = proceed to 14
    Foundry = proceed to 5
    Freight hauling, freight transit = proceed to 14
    Holding companies = proceed to 17
    Immigration companies = proceed to 20
    Improvement companies = proceed to 17
    Investment companies = proceed to 17
    Iron or steel companies = proceed to 20
    Land companies = proceed to 20
    Leasing companies = proceed to 18
    Locomotive manufacturing = proceed to 6
    Logging, lumber, timber companies = proceed to 16
    Plantation companies = proceed to 20
    "Properties" companies = proceed to 20
    Rail car manufacturing = proceed to 6
    Rail service companies = proceed to 18
    Railroad parts manufacturing = proceed to 6
    Rapid transit or "metro" = proceed to 13
    Real estate and realty companies = proceed to 20
    Recycled tie and lumber companies = proceed to 20
    Spoorweg-Maatschappij companies (Dutch) = proceed to 9
    Toy manufacturing = proceed to 20
    Transfer companies = proceed to 14
    Transportation companies = proceed to 17
    Tunnel companies = proceed to 20
    Turnpike companies = proceed to 20
    Utility or public service companies = proceed to 20
    Any "other" industry = proceed to 20
     
13 Most rapid transit companies operated buses. Is there COMPELLING evidence that the company operated rail equipment, even if only for a short period?
    Yes = listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
    Unknown = proceed to 15
     
14 Most freight companies and companies with the word "Line" in their names involved truck, wagon or waterborne freight carriage. Is there COMPELLING evidence that such a company operated primarily on rail carriage?
    Yes = listed in catalog
    No = not listed in catalog
     
15 Did the company operate prior to 1940?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
16 Is there evidence from any other references that the company operated rail equipment for logging purposes? See further explanations about including logging companies.
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
17 Holding companies often had names that included words like this. There must be compelling evidence that the company is related to railroading. Is the name sufficiently close to other rail-related companies that collectors could reasonably think of this catalog as a source of information about certificates?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 11
     
18 Was the company related to railroading?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
19 Companies with 'Properties' in names may be related to either real estate operations or holding companies. Real Estate companies are normally NOT included. IF the company seems to be similar to other holding companies, is the name sufficiently close to other rail-related companies that collectors could reasonably think of this catalog as a source of information about certificates?
    Yes = company listed in catalog
    No = proceed to 20
     
20

Company not included in this catalog. It is accepted that some such companies may have been owned by a rail companies, owned track, or even had freight or rail operations. However, if railroading was not sufficiently important to include in corporate names, then those companies were too far removed from railroading to be included in a guidebook intended to identify railroad certificates.

For further explanations about excluded industries, see
     

 

 

  
 

 
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