I don't know that using railroads as a model of non-monopolistic business is the best idea, but I agree with you that investors are critical to business. It's the original crowdfunding.
This spills over into Whole Foods as well, from my experience. I personally don't know quite how to feel about the idea that Amazon bought them out, but the in-store customer service is leagues above Walmart and on par with Publix.
Slightly related - not much a fan of hackernoon. The electric lime green banner at the top is essentially blinding. I had to zap the element with Ublock Origin just to read the article comfortably.