I'm an engineer by training, so my thought process is see problem and find solution. 

., but even if it does, that doesn’t mean it’d be profitable today.I did a bit of googling over this thinking that the railroad was trying to keep the minerals, especially coal and iron, for themselves because a lot of steam engines burned coal and the engines and tracks were build from iron or steel (which is mostly iron).

Your first step there would be to get a structural engineer and other qualified contractors out to the property to give you an idea of what it would take to fix.

This is likely an over-engineering some more simple transaction, but thinking aloud here.

Besides container development what LEGAL permittedways can you think of that can bring
new construction costs down 25-50%?
I'm planning to build a light warehouse :)

a lot of growth engines for such a small town. 

Let's start with a fact:  The noise level that comes with living near a rail station or tracks is 80 to 96 decibels; that's about as loud as a jet engine. 

I would still hire the contractor and work with all the necessary people like engineers and drafters.

Some questions for those with a few development projects under the belt and a good grasp of the "financial engineering".Let's assume the following numbers for a multi-unit suburban residential project:Newbuild sales value: 3.8MUSDConstruction cost: 1.6MUSDCost of terrain: 0.8MUSDPotential gross profit: 1.4MUSDSo with a 36+% EBIT margin there is plenty of proverbial meat on the bone.

Real Estate investing has always been a part-time thing as I'm a full time network engineer.