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Railroad Acquisition Holdings, a unit of Fortress Investment Group, for $15.85 mil- lion, not including MMA’s fleet of second-hand General Electric locomotives. Service between Maine and Québec through Lac-Mégantic was suspended immediately after the wreck and was not reinstated until CMQR reached an agreement with the town to resume through operations in early 2014. CMQR Chief Execu- tive Officer John Giles had previously been CEO of short line holding company RailAmer- ica, which Fortress owned between 2007 and RA’s sale to Genesee & Wyoming in 2012. On May 13, MMA-Canada and three for- mer employees were indicted on 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death, one for each life lost in connection with the July 6 disaster. Engineer Tom Harding, manager of train operations Jean Demaître, and rail traf- fic controller (dispatcher) Richard LaBrie were arrested and later released on bail after making a court appearance in Lac-Mégantic. North of the border, the maximum penalty in criminal negligence cases causing death is life in prison.
Great Smoky Mountains
STEAM SHOP UNDER CONSTRUCTION: North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains Railroad has started construction on its new steam shop in Dillsboro and has completed pouring the structure's concrete floor. Now that the floor has been finished, the building's steel framework will begin to rise. After the shop's completion GSMR's ex-U.S. Army 2-8-0 No. 1702 will be rebuilt for service there. In addition to the shop building, GSMR will in- stall a 75-foot turntable at Bryson City. The steam project is being financed by a Swain County overnight accommodations tax and the county will loan the railroad up to $700,000. GSMR operates diesel-powered ex- cursions and dinner trains over the former Southern Railway Murphy Branch between Dillsboro and Bryson City and also offers rail access to the scenic Nantahala Gorge from Bryson City.
Iowa Pacific Holdings
Chai Trust Co. LLC and EGI-IPH Investors LLC have filed a verified notice of exemption with the Surface Transportation Board to ac- quire control of Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, which directly and indirectly controls ten Class III railroads. EGI-IPH was formed to ac- quire a controlling share of Iowa Pacific. Iowa Pacific is a holding company that owns 100 per cent of Permian Basin Railways, Inc., an- other holding company. Permian Basin owns the Austin & Northwestern Railroad Compa- ny, Inc. (operated as the Texas-New Mexico Railroad); Chicago Terminal Railroad; Mount Hood Railroad; San Luis & Rio Grande; Saratoga & North Creek; West Texas & Lub- bock; Massachusetts Coastal; and Santa Cruz & Monterey Bay. Iowa Pacific directly controls the Rusk, Palestine & Pacific (which operates the Texas State Railroad) and Pullman Sleep- ing Car Co. Chai-EGI will acquire an 80 per cent interest in Iowa Pacific, while the re- mainder will be held by Iowa Pacific manage- ment (notably President Ed Ellis).
Western Maryland Scenic Acquires C&O Mallet
LAST FALL’S RUMOR came to fruition on May 6, 2014 as the B&O Museum and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad announced that the railroad would acquire Chesapeake & Ohio H6 2- 6-6-2 No. 1309 from the museum for restoration and operation out of Cumberland, Md. The loco- motive will be disassembled and moved on flatcars; WMSR expects it to return to service by the time 2-8-0 No. 734 enters the shop for its 1472-day teardown at the end of 2015. Delivered by Baldwin in September 1949, No. 1309 is widely recognized as the last steam lo- comotive by a commercial builder for service in the United States. Essentially a modernized ver- sion of the World War I-era United States Railroad Administration standard 2-6-6-2, No. 1309 is a true Mallet, with steam going from the boiler to high-pressure cylinders on the rear engine and then to low-pressure cylinders on the front engine before being exhausted up the stack. Only two other Mallets operate in the United States: Black Hills Central No. 110 in South Dakota and Clover Valley Lumber No. 4 on California’s Niles Canyon Railway, both 2-6-6-2T’s.
Heart of Texas Has New Paint Scheme
GMTX GP38-2 NO. 2214 WEARS THE NEW COLORS of the Heart of Texas Railroad, as do Nos. 2223 and 2203. HTR also has GMTX No. 2204 in the leasing company’s blue and white. HTR began doing business in January 2013 when it took over the Gulf, Colorado & San Saba, which went bankrupt in July 2012. HTR operates a former Santa Fe branch that runs 67 miles from an interchange with BNSF Railway at Lometa to Brady, Texas, where the company has its headquarters. Traffic consists largely of high quality frac sand for the oil industry.
ON Rail
The Province of Ontario says it will continue to operate the motor coach, Polar Bear Ex- press, rail freight, and refurbishment servic- es of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) as a government-owned
transportation company. The province will make new strategic investments to ensure ONTC's transportation services and infra- structure continue to support economic growth in northeastern Ontario. The invest- ments include more than $23 million over three years, subject to annual budget ap-
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ANTHONY WESSEL
MITCH GOLDMAN
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