(See also Companies NOT Included in This Guide.)

Please understand that

my primary focus is railroading.

My goals with this catalog seem simple:

	My primary goal is to describe certificates from all railroad companies that operated anywhere in North America. Those companies need not have been incorporated in North America. Those companies need not have actually laid track.
	My secondary goal (and please understand that it is secondary) is to list certificates from companies closely related to railroading.

Obviously, the bulk of this catalog includes certificates from genuine railroad companies. My definition of 'railroads' includes:

	huge mainline railroads
	short line railroads
	narrow gauge railroads
	tourist railroads
	horse railroads
	electric railroads
	street railroads
	traction railroads
	cable railroads
	subways
	cog railroads
	gravity and funicular railroads
	switching and terminal railroads

I also include numbers of companies that are very close to railroads. This category includes:

	Logging companies: The vast percentage of timber operations used rail haulage of every conceivable gauge, especially prior to World War I. Of that number, which might includes thousands of companies, only a small percentage issued stocks and bonds. However, thousands of miles of logging railroad tracks were consolidated and merged into genuine railroad companies. Therefore, several hundred logging companies may, in fact, be ancestors of parts of more recognizable railroad companies.
	Bridge companies. I very reluctantly include a few bridge companies in this catalog. Ideally I only include them if they, 1) used "Railroad" in their corporate names, 2) and they reported to the ICC as common carriers. I recognize there are a few bridge companies in the database that do not meet this criteria. They are among the earliest companies listed and are generally accepted to be rail-related. Based on responses from polls of my contributors, I have chosen to leave a few companies in the database.
	Switching and terminal railroads. Several of these kinds of companies are disguised and operated under shipping or wharf company names.
	Plantation and mining railroads. Many large plantation companies and a few mining companies operated genuine railroads. I currently include a few of these companies when I have compelling information that suggests they operated in conditions very close to those of genuine railroads.
	Rail museums. I include a few of these organizations in the database, especially when they incorporated as corporations and when they sold stock. In later years, I have removed several that were too far afield and were obviously never incorporated.
	Railroad equipment manufacturers. Many collectors collect certificates from companies that manufactured equipment crucial to the operations of railroads. This area of peripheral companies is often very difficult to decide what to include and what to discard. Even after all this time, I have never been able to devise a hard and fast rule. One of my "almost hard rules" is that if companies seem to belong to corporate categories other than railroading, then I will not include them here. Obviously it is easier to include companies when they made equipment was absolutely crucial to railroading. Obviously it is easier to include companies when they included "railroad" in their corporate names. Here are the categories of companies I currently include. The closer any company is to the top of the list, the more likely it is to be included. The further down the list, the less likely. locomotives railway cars ties rails signals parts

Companies in the vast "gray area" cause me very much trouble. When companies seem to appear in the "gray area", I always ask whether rail operations were critical to their overall corporate survival. If not, then I definitely do NOT include them. If interested in learning more about this process, be sure to read Thoughts about which companies to include in the database ... and which to reject and Decision Matrix for deciding which companies to include or exclude from this project.

For instance, the Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado, owns and operates several locomotives within its huge rail yard. Its locomotives have appeared in railfan magazines and videos. The company moves more rail cars every day than many switching lines. However, I don't know a single person who would consider Coors Brewing Company a railroad company.

Another example is CF&I Steel. Although CF&I was a major rail manufacturer, and even operated a railroad between its coal mines and blast furnaces, railroading was only a tiny part of its overall business. Taking the hard-nosed approach, CF&I Steel was clearly a steel company, not a railroad.

I suspect some non-railroad companies have slipped through. I will remove them if you remind me they are there.

I initially included all companies that reported to the ICC as "common carriers." Over time I have eliminated several companies when in-depth evidence strongly suggested that reportage to the ICC was insufficient reason for inclusion.

Sometimes, it is easier to tell which kinds of companies are excluded from my database. I have another large page on this subject at companies not included in this guide.

In general, I do not include ordinary railway equipment suppliers. There were possibly a hundred such companies. Most were never publicly traded and few ever issued stock. I occasionally include a few of those companies if they issued stock and if they included indication of rail involvement in their names.

There are certain types of companies I do not include, regardless of any apparent similarity to ordinary railroads.

	amusement parks, regardless of railroad authenticity or scale
	airport trolleybuses, loop railways, and subways
	manufacturers for which railroading is, or was, a small part of their businesses
	miniature railroads
	toy railroads or suppliers
	replicas at any scale
	mining companies that only operated underground trams

For those who ask...no, I do not include Lionel. Lionel is clearly a toy manufacturer.