I though this was mainly a Swiss thing. When I was last there in 2001 I noted that some of the narrow gauge railways around Montreux were merging, and got the impression that the usual form of ownership of small Swiss railways was a kind of non-profit company (like for example our utilities were to start with).
Wikipedia has a bit more on this:
The Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera (MVR) was a coming together, in 2001, of two small railway companies and two funicular companies in the Vevey / Montreux area of Switzerland. Some of these companies were, themselves, formed of amalgamations which had taken place over the years. Since this time they have been added to the marketing portfolio of the MOB group and are featured as part of their "GoldenPass services".
So they are joining into larger operations, though Montreux still has a second slightly-less-narrow gauge one. But of course it's usually the case that if you want to use the Swiss way of doing something, first you have to be Swiss.