Working on the railroad

CSX Corp., a railroad headquartered in Richmond, Va., is in an increasingly bitter dispute with TCI, a British hedge fund, over what the hedge fund sees as CSX' incompetent management, and what the railroad sees as the hedge fund's potentially ruinous effirt to produce a perpetual running recall election.

CSX this month has amended its bylaws to provide that a special meeting would be called only after the company received a written request from shareholders representing at least 15 percent of its voting power.

I'll wait until next week to detail this fight somewhat for you. For now, here is a little history. Its corporate ancestors include The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, one of the four railroads known to every enthusiast of Monopoly, the famous board game.

The B&O, America's first common carrier, was chartered in 1827. Its first rails were useful only for the purpose of assisting the horses, making the carriage-pulling work a bit easier. Steam replaced horses three years later.

The B&O was acquired by the Chesapeake & Ohio -- which had been a canal company in the old days, when proponents of canals and rail debated over who represented the future -- the acquisition didn't happen until the early 1960s, and the present name, CSX, was originally suggested by the phrase, "Chesapeake, Seaboard, and many things more."

Last year, CSX spent $3.2 million on Washington lobbyists. At least some of that money went into the company's support for legislation that would require hedge funds to register with the SEC -- oops, we've wandered back into the TCI/CSX controversy again, haven't we?

Til we meet again.