Key Figures in Railroad History

Cameron Douglas Flanigen (1854-1942) was a businessman, president of the Athens Electric Railway Company, and publisher of the Athens Banner. He was born in Philadelphia but moved to Athens, Georgia, in 1879. He was associated with the Athens Gas Light Co. and became the president of its successor companies, the Athens Electric Railway Co. and Athens Railway and Electric Co. Flanigen was also a Georgia Power Company leader. He organized and served as President of the Northeast Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America, was a member of the Board of Education and director of the Georgia Manufacturer’s Association.

From his start as a trainee to work in the federal regulatory arena and eventual ownership of a short line holding company, Bruce M. Flohr has viewed the railroad industry from many angles.

The Stanford University graduate and former U.S. Army officer got his start in the railroad industry in 1965 as a brakeman and management trainee with the Southern Pacific Railroad, rising through the ranks at the company, and finally being named division superintendent of the company’s San Antonio Division in 1971.

Following several years in government, including acting administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration in 1977, Flohr started his own company, RailTex, Inc.

From a “headquarters” room in Flohr’s San Antonio, Texas home, the rail leasing company rented open-top hopper cars to quarry operators moving rock for construction projects. By 1989 the company had a fleet of 630 rail cars.

In 1982, with a recession driving down demand for construction materials like the rock shipped in RailTex hopper cars, Flohr and his team needed other business opportunities. In 1984 Flohr acquired the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad, increasing rail traffic from 1,600 rail cars annually to 6,000 just three years later. By the time RailTex was sold in 2000 to RailAmerica, revenues were $176 million, and its assets were valued at $368 million. RailTex had acquired 34 separate lines and operated them as 23 different short line railroads, the largest short line holding company in North America.

Flohr served on the Association of American Railroads Executive Committee for six years and as chair of the Regional Railroads of America prior to the latter organization’s merger with the American Short Line Railroad Association to become ASLRRA.

Outside of railroads, Flohr is active in many community organizations and has established the Flohr Family Foundation, which has donated over $3 million to different groups.

In his eighties now, Flohr still works to share his lifetime of knowledge with the next generation, recently adding “published author” to his long and storied resume. Flohr’s book, a “mini-MBA program” titled Staying on Track, came out in January 2022.