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Track salvaged from Yreka Western Railroad
This kind of government interference in private property needs to stop. A railroad should be free to do whatever it wants with its property.
What are the legal differences between abandoned r-o-w, dismantling, salvaging, scrapping, rail removal, o-o-s lines, and the whole thingie? Methinks we have too many lawyers.
Actually, removal of a rail line’s track (as opposd to removal an industrial spur) is very much an “abandonment”, which can normal only be done with STB approval or exemption. So, if YW is really a common carrier railroad, and removed this kind of trackage without STB blessing, it could well be an inlawful abandonment. But the question I have is whether YW is an STB regulated common carrier railroad. Tourist railroads generally are not.
I think I want to ship a load of wood. So put that track back in and leave it there. Stop removing our transportion infrastructure. Once its gone, it is almost impossible to get back.
Mention has been made that the 19 has been purchased. Anyone know who has bought the locomotive and where she is headed?
YW is a common carrier railroad. The rails that has been pulled up, so far, is considered industrial in nature and therefore does not need STB approval to be removed. The STB is involved in the situation and has informed the management of the YW that they cannot remove main track rail without going through appropriate abandonment proceedings. As of this pasat Friday, no request to abandon the line was been filed with the STB.
The railroad has been placed on the market and various pieces of equipment have left the railroad and presumably been sold over the past year including locomotives and passenger cars.
Must be a shortage of soda-pop cans for recycling in Yreka!!!
Yreka needs to fight for every inch of rail and to get reconnected to the CO&P.As time goes by and things deteriate it will be harder and thus more expensive to reconnect.There is a point that comes that if crossed then reconnection will never happen.
This is the kind of government that we need to keep the prices that we pay at any store low.
My main question is, where was the track removed from? Was it needed to maintain the link or was it from a siding?
Scenic and historic the YW may be, but if it is not ecnomically viable and there is no benefactor willing to come to the rescue, then let the obvious happen. Shed a tear, yes, for what is gone and/or going to the scrappers. If the YW can survive with what remains good for it, or it too should go the way to the scrap heap. Sad facts of ecomic life.
I don’t understand why my comments don’t get posted and it appears that others comments drop off - for instance there was a comment from a fellow in Wisconsin yesterday when I posted mine and it appears to be gone today. Just Curious.
Yreka Western #19 hasn’t been sold as far as I know. The owner of the locomotive, Sierra Nevada & Pacific RR, is also the owner of the Yreka Western, as I understand it. This entity has apparently signed a contract to operate #19 on the Wallowa Union Railroad out of Elgin, OR starting later this year.
Matthew Nichols, restrictions on what a railroad can be done with it’s property are often done as a concession for subsidies. There aren’t a lot of railroads in the US that were built or maintained without government help.