Mon DOH! http://www.news.net/article/1363113?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_c... George Pullman made the same mistake in 1865 when he constructed "The Pioneer" luxury sleeping car. Probably the only thing that saved him from bankruptcy was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. http://www.pullman-museum.org/theCompany/ So other people's money was spent to make railway platforms narrower & tunnels bigger to accommodate the oversized rail-car and the Pullman Palace Car Company was able to operate along that route & eventually grow to monopoly status. http://www.chicagohs.org/history/pullman/pul1.html This is not the only example of corporate welfare in the USA transport industry, eg. some of the railroad companies lobbied to be purchased by governments. On the other hand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak points out that companies using privately funded railroads & now Amtrak were/are expected to compete with other transports using government funded highways & airports. A lot of different calculations are covered in that Wikipedia article & I guess anyone can find ways to support their own belief. In Australia, we might argue there is proportionally more government financial support for motorists, especially motorcyclists, due to more public health-care for the injured. If the Victorian government wants to support local car manufacturing, why don't they, (as John Cain Jr's government did,) replace car registration fees (& GST at purchase?) with increased fuel taxes? The "need" for road building in say, Greater Melbourne, isn't determined by the number of cars but by their weight, size & amount they are driven, all of which are reflected in fuel consumption. While this would be especially fairer for car collectors like Lindsay Fox, it would also be fairer for the rest of us too! And it might encourage those who occasionally need a big vehicle for their caravan or off-road trips etc. to use something smaller for their daily commute & use less or perhaps hire the gas-guzzler only when needed. Dav* -  (I'm so pessimistic sometimes I think I'll NEVER manage to read everything on the World Wide Web!)