It’s always a relief when the first guest shows up at your party.

We hope someone gave Franklin County a party hat and a beverage.

Our eastern neighbors voted Monday to join Adams County in forming a Southwest Mississippi Regional Railroad Authority. Now, the authority is truly regional.

Franklin County understands the need — one of the railroad’s biggest customers, American Railcar Industries Inc., operates a railcar repair facility in Bude. The company employs many Franklin County residents and stands, perhaps, to be the entity that most immediately feels the pain if the rail line goes away.

But Franklin and Adams county governments want to make sure that scenario doesn’t happen.

By joining hands, the leaders of two counties have agreed to work together to save the rail line if its owners do decide to close it.

That’s regionalism, we’d say.

Now, this party is picking up speed. Lincoln County will be the next group invited to join the gathering, and we hope they to will see that this issue is bigger than any one of our counties alone.

With a friend and partner in Franklin County, Adams County leaders should continue their railroad work full steam ahead.