[johannes1234321]

> There are a handful of people doing just that, in Germany Roland Sandkuhl / LokRapid has gotten incredibly famous after a TV show featuring him and his old-timer Class 219 locomotive has gone viral [1].

Mind that in a legal sense he operates no EVU (Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen / railway operation company) but a locomotive rental business where he lends his locomotive including engineer (himself) to EVUs.

But small EVUs exist(-ed), like Rail 4U / Barbara Pirch with her E 94 locomotive, which unfortunately had an accident.