I heard the above - about 5 mins, long, interesting but nothing surprising to me - starting at about 5:53 AM Eastern. So when it would be where you are depends on the time zone you’re in, and where NPR is in the normal 2-hour rotation/ rebroadcast of this program, etc.
Link to the webpage for it and the summary, pending posting of the full transcript and audio sometime after 9 AM Eastern:
Iowa Community Preserves Short Line Rail Track by Dean Borg
May 9, 2012 from WOI
In northern Iowa, a group of farmers have banded together to buy nearly 30 miles of railroad track to assure they can get their grain to the ethanol market. Short line tracks are being idled across the country as railroads concentrate on longer trains.
Thanks for the link. Looks like a great situation for the investors. The farmers get a market for corn, Winnebago Industries kept rail service, and ADM has more corn for ethanol.
Paul, can you approximate the scrap value of this line using your engineering skills? Let’s assume…
28 miles of track = 56 miles of rail x 90 pounds per yard = 8.9 million pounds = 4450 tons.
I have no idea of reclamation costs nor additional revenue such as ballast or ties (if any).
Looking at Iowa Northern map, they will be able to provide single line service from this line to the ADM plant. All parties (IN, farmers, grain elevators, ADM) gotta love that. We had a similar situation several years ago when CSX wanted to scrap their line from Wellsboro, In to North Judson/Malden, In. and the city of North Judson wanted to purchase the line. CSX wanted full scrap value, I believe it went to arbitrator or someone. CSX receives 65 car unit trains to North Carolina about 2x monthly. Seems like they would have wanted to work it out rather than play hard ball.
Interesting link, Paul. Unfortunately, you have to drill down into the NPR and local broadcast resource to find out about the areas. Forest City,Ia has only one major industry, Winnebago Industries (makes Campers, and motor Hones) , looks like according to the Iowa DOT map grain capacity( in cars) is pretty small (shown in red on the DOT map)
Linked PDF’s within that site show lots of information on Rails in Iowa, and Abandonments. as well. I used to travel in Iowa some years back and the statement about Iowa was laced by railroads was very evident, old ROW’s were eviden in almost every direction from every community, similarly, here in Kansas.