Cisco is a small Illinois town with big business opportunities for a short-line railroad. Grain elevators, which provide more shade in these parts in summer than trees do, line the many rail routes that run in and out of central Illinois. But there's more to doing business here than getting into the grain game. You have to know where and how to look for customers. You also have to know what you're looking at once you find them. "See that gray shack over there? That's my newest customer," says Allen Brown, marketing director for Pioneer Railcorp, parent of the Decatur Junction Railway Co., which serves Cisco. "I don't care what the building looks like. Never underestimate the opportunities."
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