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Fort Transfer wants Keokuk Junction to operate the line under “alternative service” as well as requesting that the Surface Transportation Board authorize mediation, which would perhaps facili- tate the sale of the line and the perma- nent resumption of rail service. One bone of contention is should Ke-
okuk Junction operate the line, and would it be allowed trackage rights over Norfolk Southern and TP&W to reach Peoria for interchange? Or would it be forced to operate only on the Morton Industrial Lead? TP&W accesses the branch via eight miles of trackage rights over Norfolk Southern between East Peoria Yard and Crandall. The Surface Transportation Board was scheduled to hold a meeting on April 1 with all the parties in hopes of resolving the issue.
Royal Slope Railroad
ARG Transportation Services of Eugene, Ore., has decided to pass on operating Royal Slope Railroad in Royal City, Wash., which has prompted the Port of Royal Slope to ask the state to give the Port control of the railroad. Senate Bill 5529, which would return ownership of the 26-mile state-owned line to Port of Royal Slope, cleared by a 47-1 vote. The bill gives the Port five years to find an operator for the line and gives supplies from the recent rehabilitation projects, paid for by the state Department of Transportation, to the Port. A similar bill still must pass a House vote. The Port thinks that with this control, it will be able to find an operator far quicker than if the line stays in state hands. ARG did a five-month study of the po- tential business on the Royal Slope and
Allentown & Auburn
Allentown & Auburn’s rare 600 h.p. EMC switcher wears a Reading inspired scheme of olive green as it makes its debut run in fresh paint on May 2, 2015. The new tourist railroad hauled its fi rst passengers during the last weekend of March while the locomotive was still in basic black primer. The status of the four-mile line was in limbo after the McConway & Torely mill closed several years ago and East Penn Railways gave up rights to the line. The 1869 Reading freight station in downtown Kutztown, Pa., is the line’s western terminus. The branch itself is owned by the Borough of Kutztown and has seen a half dozen operators since it was spun off from Conrail.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL T. BURKHART
it turned up only 200 rail cars annual- ly. AGR said the line would need 750 to break even. But AGR has no other lines in Washington to help share the costs, and ARG would have had to use the Co- lumbia Basin Railroad at Othello to get access to BNSF. AGR recommended the Port talk the Columbia Basin into oper- ating the Royal Slope, but apparently Columbia Basin is not interested.
Rushmore Regional Rail Authority
South Dakota has a new rail authority. Meeting for the first time on April 8, the Rushmore Regional Rail Authority is expected to smooth access for private industry to funds from the South Dakota Rail Trust to make rail improvements in the state. South Dakota now has no less than 28 regional rail authorities.
Portland & Western to Acquire POTB track
Portland & Western has filed to acquire and continue to operate approximately 3.5 miles of rail line owned by Port of Tillamook Bay (POTB), between mile- post 774.0 at Banks and milepost 770.5 at Schefflin, Ore. Portland & Western is the current operator of the line pursu- ant to a lease agreement dated May 6, 1999. The two railroads state that they have entered into a purchase and sale agreement dated June 16, 2015. The railroad would like to establish a direct connection to its adjacent lines in the Willamette River Valley for a more cost efficient handling of traffic and to justify its investments in the line.
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES EAST STEPHEN KOENIG
MassDOT Acquires Berkshire Line Tracks
Massachusetts Department of Trans- portation has purchased the Housatonic Railroad line from Pittsfield to the state line near Canaan, Conn. MassDOT an- nounced completion of the acquisition in February, seven months after the pro- posal to take over the company’s Berk- shire freight line was approved by the department’s Board of Directors. Pur- chased for slightly more than $12 mil- lion, the agency also paid $900,000 for the Coltsville Spur, to extend the Ashu- wilticook Rail Trail. The Housatonic Railroad was found-
ed in 1983 to operate a segment of dor- mant former New Haven track between New Milford and Cannan, Conn. Inter- change with Conrail was established at New Milford in 1989. The tracks north of Cannan were purchased from Guilford Transportation in 1991 and interchange was established in Pittsfield. Facing de- clining revenues over the last ten years due to the loss of key customers along the route, HRRC proposes to revive through passenger service in the near future.
Vermillion Valley
At the end of 2014, Illinois-based Ver- million Valley purchased Erie Mining F9As 4210 and 4214, but it wasn’t until late March that they were moved from Minnesota. The locomotives were pur- chased for freight service and will only be on Vermillion Valley long enough to be restored for service.
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