No railroad company became an airline. The first airline was Pan Am. Railroads ignored air transportation until it killed all of their passenger business and th

No railroad company became an airline. The first airline was Pan Am. Railroads ignored air transportation until it killed all of their passenger business and they had to be bailed out and merged into a Federal conglomerate called the National Passenger Rail Corporation, branded Amtrak. I bring it up as an example of how sunk costs and the fallacy that they'll always continue to produce the same income often prevent industries from adopting a new and fundamental way of doing business -- even when they have the clear lead in that business, as QVC did and as railroads did.