How many 2-railers are interested in $400 freight cars?
Well, it would seem more than a few that I know have more than a passing sampling of both Kohs and Yoder freight cars (a few have a nice set of Overland specialty cars that they run...), and last I checked, Rich has no trouble selling out of freight cars. Given that there's an Overland Poultry Palace car just about to break $400 and will probably end a good bit higher on eBay, I'd say that there's an adequate number to support a business.
Seems to me that 3-RS folks are getting far more demanding than their 2-rail counterparts.
But could not bring themselves to buy a 44 ton diesel.........
Not buying your premise here at all.