The railway baron with cigar in mouth and velvet waistcoat has a special place in the history of venture capitalism. In the 19th century brash railroadmen opened up England and tamed the Wild West.
As time went by railroads were nationalised everywhere as strategic assets. It wasn't until the Thatcherism of the 1980s that private rail-owners came back into their own, this time as corporate executives in pin-striped suits. Now three unlikely rail barons have made their mark in the country where one might least expect it - Communist China. They know nothing of cigars and have never worn a waistcoat. But Mr Wen Maowen, Mr Wang Bosheng and Mr Gao Chenghuan, a peasant and two workers, have become the first owners of a mainland railroad since the revolution in 1949. Mind you, it is only 630 metres long, or about two-thirds of a mile, but their newly-constructed branch line in Liangshan on the Beijing-Hong Kong railway line regularly takes trains pulling 12 oil tanks to a city depot since it was opened on December 29th.
More importantly, it is a portent for the future. Several overseas Chinese have applied to build private railway lines as China modernises its communication network. A party official told Beijing Youth Daily that there is no objection to this in principle.
The door appears to be opening to an era of private China railways in the not too distant future. The three railway pioneers have shown the way. They are being extolled by the party as model workers. And in today's China a model worker can be a railway baron.