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Genesee & Wyoming and Pinsly reach deal for Arkansas lines


Red is out, orange is in. Genesee & Wyoming, Inc., has filed to acquire all three railroads in Arkansas owned by Pinsly Railroad Com- pany, including Arkansas Midland Railroad (AKMD), Prescott & Northwestern Rail- road (PNW), and Warren & Saline Railroad (WSR). Genesee & Wyoming will pay $40 mil- lion in cash for the three railroads as well as two Arkansas transload operations managed by Pinsly’s Railroad Distribution Services subsidiary. The operations in total include 137 miles


of owned and leased track, 70 employees, and 16 locomotives, and serve the Hot Springs and Little Rock, Ark., areas, as well as the southwestern and southeastern portions of the Natural State. The railroads haul about 35,000 carloads per year and serve a diverse customer base in such industries as alumi- num, forest products, aggregates, energy, and carton board. The new lines will be managed as part of the Central Region.


TransDistribution


A new operation, TransDistribution Brook- field Railroad Co., has filed to acquire and operate 0.46 miles of track from Sweetener Supply Company at its Brookfield, Ill., trans- load facility. Spy Glass Illinois, Inc., owns the Brookfield Transload Facility trackage and leases the Brookfield Transload Facility to Sweetener Supply Company, which trans- loads bulk sugar products. The trackage is used in conjunction with interchanging to and from BNSF Railway. TransDistribution Ridgeland Railroad Co.


has filed to acquire and operate from Sweet- ener Supply Company approximately 0.23 mile of right-of-way and trackage at Sweet- ener Supply Company’s Berwyn Transload Facility in Berwyn, Ill. The transload facility is owned by BNSF, which leases it to Sweet- ener Supply, which transloads bagged sugar products.


V&S Railway to Acquire Missouri Central line


V&S Railway (that’s its official name) has filed to acquire and operate and operate a 52.6-mile line of railroad extending between milepost 19.0, near Vigus, Mo., and milepost 71.6, near Beaufort, Mo., from Missouri Cen- tral Railroad (MCCR), former Rock Island St. Louis Subdivision trackage. These tracks form part of a route connecting St. Louis with Kansas City. V&S also is acquiring incidental trackage


rights over Union Pacific between milepost 19.0, near Vigus, and mile 10.3, near Rock Island Junction, Mo. V&S states that it has reached an agreement with MCCR in which it will sell V&S the line currently operated by Central Midland Railway (CMR), a division of Progressive Rail. According to V&S, Central Midland will continue operating the line pursu- ant to an agreement between MCCR and CMR.


Wisconsin & Southern to Operate Evansville Line


The STB has granted Wisconsin & South- ern permission to acquire and operate a 15- mile rail line known as the Evansville Line that is owned by the City of Fitchburg and the Village of Oregon. The line extends from milepost 119.0, near Evansville, Wis., and milepost 134.0, near “MX” (a crossing of two WSOR lines on Madison’s south side). The municipalities acquired the line in


1998 when the prior owner sought to abandon it. There has been no freight rail traffic on the line since 1997. However, a shipper seeking rail service is locating in the Village of Oregon and has contacted the Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission requesting service, thus the commission has requested that WSOR initiate service over the line. Meanwhile the state of Wisconsin has fi-


nalized the purchase of 70 miles of rail lines between Madison and Reedsburg, Wis., and from Madison to Cottage Grove, Wis., from Union Pacific; WSOR currently operates the lines. The $30 million purchase was made jointly with the WRRTC with funds from the Freight Rail Preservation Program, which provides grants to local units of government, industries, and railroads for the purpose of preserving and rehabilitating essential rail lines. Service on the line will continue to be provided by the WSOR under lease with the WRRTC.


REGIONALS/SHORTLINES EAST STEPHEN KOENIG


Allentown & Auburn Begins Operations


A new tourist line, the Allentown & Auburn, was in the process of beginning operations in December 2014. The railroad will run tourist trains between Topton and Kutztown, Pa. Equipment, including a Baldwin DS44-750 (ex-Warner Sand & Gravel) and an ex-Stew- artstown SW600, was moved to the line by Norfolk Southern in December.


Buffalo Southern


Buffalo Southern has pulled Alco C424 No. 4212 into the shop to put it back in service, which in turn will address increased demand for motive power due to increased oil ship- ments along the route. The railroad has done significant body work and is hoping to fire it up this spring.


Indiana Rail Road CEO Hoback retires


Company Founder, President, and Chief Ex- ecutive Officer Thomas G. Hoback has an- nounced that he will retire effective June 30, 2015. In brief, Hoback enjoyed an incredible tenure at the helm of the regional railroad, helping to rebuild a property once given up for dead, into an industry leader. He will con- tinue to serve as a director on the Indianapo-


lis-based railroad’s board while pursuing oth- er business and philanthropic interests. Hoback also announced that the INRD


Board of Directors has appointed Peter Mills to assume his position effective July 1. Mills, who is vice president of finance operations for CSX Transportation, has served on the INRD board for ten years. He will resign from CSX on June 30 and relocate to Indianapolis.


New Locomotives for Florida East Coast


Delivery of all the new General Electric loco- motives from Erie, Penn., was completed in mid-December 2014. These units will replace several EMDs, including the recently pur- chased SD70M-2s, and FEC said it will put those units up for lease. It was reported in mid-December that the CITX-owned engines (blue SD70M-2s 140, 141, and 142) will go to Norfolk Southern on lease. The other SD70M-2s (100-107 inclu- sive) are going to CSX and the SD40-2s that FEC does not keep for its own operations will be leased to CSX.


NASA Railway


Canaveral Port Authority has announced its intention to apply to the Surface Transpor- tation Board for powers to build and operate a rail link between its port on the Atlantic Ocean and Florida East Coast Railway near Titusville, Fla. This would eliminate the need for road haulage between the port and a suit- able railhead. In documents published on October 27,


2014, CPA said the Port Canaveral Rail Ex- tension would require the construction of 11.18 miles of new single-track railway in- cluding a bridge across the Banana River, and would also make use of 16.77 miles of the ex- isting rail network within the John F. Kenne- dy Space Center that has been out of use since the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Initial traffic is envisioned at 170 cars round


trips per week in three or four trains, with an additional 50 double-stack intermodal cars per week predicted within two years of the start of services. The project would also maintain the possibility of providing rail services to support the launching of space vehicles.


SMS Rail Lines


On January 10, 2014, Paulsboro Refining Com- pany, LLC (PRC), filed an application request- ing that the STB authorize the adverse aban- donment of approximately 5.8 miles of rail line it owns, which is currently operated by SMS Rail Service, Inc. PRC no longer wishes to re- ceive common carrier service from SMS at the New Jersey location, but instead wants switch- ing operations performed by Savage Services Group, a noncarrier contract operator. Savage would provide contract service to PRC and Exx- onMobil Corp., the only customers served from tracks within PRC’s refinery. Adverse aban- donment was granted on December 2, 2014, paving the way for Savage to take over the for- mer SMS operation in Paulsboro.


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