Sir:
I think you are taking the wrong approach here. Rather than smaller; you should be thinking bigger- as in bigger trains.
Here on the Harrisburg, Horningford & Western; we have implemented the elements of Precision Scheduled Railroading. Our late CEO E. Hunter Hurtem was the champion of PSR at several other railroads before bringing the process to the HH&W.
As you can see in the video; we are running longer trains using distributed power and have also successfully “clean sheeted” our yards and sidings. We have also slightly modified the conventional wisdom of PSR by adding cabooses back onto our trains. This enables the brass to ride along and count all the money they are saving.
The only real downside to the longer trains is the backup at grade crossings but; those folks aren’t shareholders so who cares. 😉
Curt
