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milepost 22.7 in Quinnesec, Mich. Missouri North Central states that while its agreement with SSMBC provides it with a nonexclusive agreement to provide common carrier rail operations over the line, SSMBC will retain the right to provide service over the line. Ac- cording to Missouri North Central there are no restrictions on interchange commitments.
New Orleans Public Belt
In January, local businessman Thomas Cole- man committed to purchase New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. The city has thus begun the first steps in assessing the value of the Public Belt for potential privatization, an ef- fort that is expected to take all of 2015. Sell- ing the railroad is not a given, as the Board of Commissioners turned down offers in 2010 and 2011 from six entities including the Class I and Class II railroads. They ultimately con- cluded that maintaining public ownership with slight modifications was in the public’s best interest.
Ouachita Railroad
On January 15, the Surface Transportation Board approved the Ouachita Railroad’s abandonment of an approximately 13.4-mile line of railroad between milepost 112, near Junction City, Ark., and milepost 125.4, near Lillie, La. Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received, this exemption will be effective on February 18, 2015.
South Dakota Projects Move Forward
In December 2014, South Dakota announced that a total of $56 million in public and pri- vate funds will be invested in four rail proj- ects across the state. Because of these in- vestments, a new $40 million grain handling facility in Britton and a $40 million grain shuttle loading facility in Kennebec will be opened. The first project is the reconstruction of the Mitchell-Rapid City rail line operated by Dakota Southern. The state and private investments will spend $29.9 million on the project between Chamberlain and Presho that will upgrade 42.6 miles of rail line to handle modern rail traffic.
The second project is an agreement with
the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad to construct two new railroad sidings along the old Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern line. The $7.5 million project includes a 10,000-foot sid- ing in the Huron area and a 7500-foot siding near Aurora. RCPE has committed to giving $3.75 million for the project, which the state will match with Future Funds. For the third project, the state will part-
ner with Dakota & Iowa Railroad to invest $7.3 million to upgrade the Sioux Valley Line in southeast South Dakota. The proj- ect will include upgrading nine bridges on the line, which will allow the line to handle 286,000-pound rail cars. In addition, a section of track that is currently in an area subject to landslides will be moved.
The last project, an upgrade of the Britton
Line in northeast South Dakota, will include $5.25 million in funds from the Dakota, Mis- souri Valley & Western, as well as $5.25 mil- lion in loans from the state Rail Board and $1 million in Future Funds. The $11.5 million project includes constructing the south leg of a wye at Jarrett Junction and replacing 29 miles of light rail with heavy rail to enable the railroad to handle heavy modern traffic.
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES EAST STEPHEN KOENIG
Milford in Sight for Grafton & Upton
G&U is working on expanding by reconstructing the final mile or so of track to Milford, Mass., and a connection to the CSX/MBTA track. There currently aren’t any shippers in Milford but G&U intends to use the connection to gain traffic rights to Bellingham and Franklin, Mass., a few miles away and currently served by CSX in a somewhat roundabout routing. The connection also means that G&U is no longer just a 15-mile stub appendage to the CSX connection at North Grafton.
End of the Line for Athens Line Railroad
Owned by Hartwell Railroad since 2002, Athens Line Railroad’s primary reason for existence was to bring coal from interchange to the coal power plant at the University of Georgia. The last coal train for the railroad operated in the final week of December 2014, making a historic footnote for the decades old service. The final shipment of six cars was to top
off the stockpile of coal at the power plant until the boiler shuts down. An electrode boiler is scheduled to come on line in fall 2015. The railroad primarily operated with former Illinois Central GP10 8396 but also had former Rio Grande GP30 3016, which was sold in 2012. It has another unit on the property, former Baltimore & Ohio 6525, still in Chessie paint; this unit has not been used since 2011. The locomotives likely will revert to the Hartwell Railroad. Power will stay on hand in the off chance more shipments arrive later in 2015.
Florida East Coast
FEC SD70M-2s 100-105 and SD40-2s 703, 704, 708, 713, 716, 717, 718, and 719 reportedly have departed FEC property and are on lease to CSX. As of press time, most of these units were in service in the Florida operating areas. The will be spreading system-wide as needed over the next few months.
Illinois Railway
Illinois Railway has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.41 to lease from Peru Land Acquisition 2, LLC, (PLA2), and to operate approximately 3.5 miles of rail line ex- tending from a connection to IR on its western
end, to the end of the track on its eastern end west of Illinois Route 251, all near Peru, in Bu- reau and LaSalle Counties, Ill.
Excess LA&L Alcos Scrapped
During late December 2014 and early Janu- ary 2015, LA&L family railroads sold several out-of-service Alcos for scrap. These included C424s 319-321 of GB&W heritage and the two former Cartier U.S.-built C636s in Cohocton, N.Y. Most were already cut up and disposed of by the end of January. The big Centuries had extreme freeze damage and it was doubtful they would ever return to service. The C424s were primarily parts sources for the other units active on the railroad.
Providence & Worcester B30-7s Retired
In January, NRE took possession of P&W B30-7ABs 3004-3009, essentially eliminating the model from the roster. Citing a variety of issues with the locomotives, the railroad sold them to purchase other power. National Rail- road Equipment has other units on its roster of the same type.
Pan Am Railways
Pan Am recently sent locomotives to NREX at Paducah, Ky., for rebuilding over the winter. GP40-2WLs 503, 507, and 513 have depart- ed, along with GP40 345 and SD40 616. The ex-Canadian National GP40WLs have been in various states of disrepair for quite a while; some were just shells, and 513 had to be load- ed onto a flatcar to be shipped. In December 2014, GP40 382 was out of service due to a severe electrical fire; no word on what will be come of this unit. PAR also acquired LTEX GP40 6528 and LTEX SD40-2 2964, former- ly C&NW 6815. The STB also lifted the ban on Pan Am operations over the New England Central during January.
Former WK&S Treasurer Brought to Justice
The Reading Eagle reported the former gener- al manager and treasurer of the Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern had pleaded guilty to stealing more than $95,000 over a 13-month span. James D. Krause, 46, of Schnecksville, Penn., pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking and theft by failing to make required disposition of funds. Judge Paul M. Yatron sentenced Krause to 11.5 to 23 months in prison, followed by five years of probation, according to a plea agreement in the case. Au- thorities say Krause stole about $36,000 from checking and savings. Krause also made more than $22,000 worth of fraudulent purchases through the corporation’s business accounts at two home-improvement retailers and stole about $37,000 of revenue collected through passenger tickets. The WK&S was founded in 1963 to operate 4.5 miles of former Reading Company track in Bucks County, Penn.
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