Despite the wealth of statistics available for the study of railroad credit, procedures for using the data are far from an exact science. Second-grade and defaulted rail bonds in the past 15 years have experienced wild price gyrations. Although these changes reflect, in part, basic monetary trends, many institutional and other holders of rail bonds have apparently mistrusted or misused statistical tests in handling their portfolios. Although rail statistics do not provide a crystal ball for forecasting, they should furnish commonsense clues to future possibilities. This article discusses a proposed modification of the standard formula “number of times fixed charges earned” for gauging the changing fortunes of individual rail companies.