Western Railroad Discussion > Yreka Western Railroad - Listed For Sale - Today!

We just posted this information over on the Trains News Wire. I wanted to share it here.

Martin

YREKA, Calif. — A Northern California real estate company listed the Yreka Western Railroad for sale today. The 9-mile Yreka-Montague, Calif., route, has been mothballed for several years.

Still on the property is Yreka Western 2-8-2 No. 19, which operated in tourist service on the line until it was shut down in 2009.

The depot and the shop building are listed at $729,000, while No. 19 is listed at $900,000. Four miles of track are available for sale at $600,000. The realtor listing the property indicates that all of the cars and remaining track would also be available for purchase, but did not currently have a listing price for the remaining assets.

Yreka Western has been embroiled in litigation over the past several years involving its owner, the Rocky Mountain Mining and Railway Museum, and its principal, Court Hammond. It also suffered lost freight revenue when connecting railroad Central Oregon ceased service over the Siskiyous in 2008.

Time will tell if this line that has struggled through much of it's life will survive this latest setback.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/11 18:26 by LoggerHogger.

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Any idea of any of the old SDAE SW-8s with dynamics are still there... in running condition?

Very sad! Hopefully someone else can get the goose flying again! Montague and Yreka share a rare piece of history that takes you back to a much simpler time.

Seems like 2.2 million for a tourist operation that doesn't have much profitability possibility seems unrealistic. Is the locomotive really worth almost a million?

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Yeah, so, the YW is for sale. Big frickin' deal. It's not the first time it's been for sale and it probably won't be the last. This isn't anything new for the little YW. If history repeats itself like people say it does, then this shouldn't be the end of the YW. Railfans are all too pessimistic.

Tim Stricker
Track crew-Yreka Western Railroad

I can't see how anyone could make a go of this railroad without income from freight to support it. Given the economy withe the timber industry, the situation with interchange partner CORP, and the very poor track conditions, why would anyone seriously consider buying the line. I could only wonder what the price is for the remaining five miles not including in the asking price. I think this will be just another western shortline that will soon disappear. - Tony J.

court operated a line or two in colo, C&W and perhaps the old mopac..

sp4294 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, so, the YW is for sale. Big frickin' deal.
> It's not the first time it's been for sale and it
> probably won't be the last. This isn't anything
> new for the little YW. If history repeats itself
> like people say it does, then this shouldn't be
> the end of the YW. Railfans are all too
> pessimistic.
>

This reminds me of the statement of a Milwaukee Road conductor at Kent, WA in 1978: "Son, when you and I are retired, this railroad will still be running here." Two years later the railroad was gone.

The YW has little or no commercial value at this point. I think the owners are dreaming if they think they can sell the whole thing as is. I predict they will end up salvaging it piece by piece.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Is there any industry up there? Did the NIMBY's kill anything new that would have helped? With unemployment so high in CA, if I was the town, I would have grabbed anything, any industry to help. CORP did not help by closing down the southern end for a while either. Sad, very sad.

A&K will buy it, those vultures that they are...

A&K is a railroad materials company. They deal in second-hand and scrap railroad materials, so why are you referring to them as vultures? Evidently Yreka Western is for sale "for a price". Whoever pays the price, gets it! Remember, no rail can be removed until the Surface Transportation Board proceedings are completed. No abandonment filings have been made as yet.

rob_l Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> This reminds me of the statement of a Milwaukee
> Road conductor at Kent, WA in 1978: "Son, when you
> and I are retired, this railroad will still be
> running here." Two years later the railroad was
> gone.
>
> The YW has little or no commercial value at this
> point. I think the owners are dreaming if they
> think they can sell the whole thing as is. I
> predict they will end up salvaging it piece by
> piece.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob L

Did you know this isn't the first the YW went through this? And for all of those that think the YW's track is "bad". They couldn't make a trip to Montague and back with out the train derailing back in the 30's. And there were no customers on the YW at that time either. And yet it still came back. When Willis Kyle bought the railroad in the 50's it had one customer, and he managed to bring it back. And everyone says that there is no "commercial value" at the YW, well the railroad had a good tourist train running and it's right next to I-5, and there are plenty of other railroads that seem to survive off of the tourist traffic. And yes, I am going to defend the little YW, it's my place of employment, and I've got a lot of memories there from when I was a kid riding the Blue Goose and then working on it and the 19 in later years as a volunteer until I became a paid employee, it's almost like a second home for me. It's the "Little Railroad the Refuses to Die" and there isn't anything that says it's dead or is going to die.

Tim Stricker
Track Crew- Yreka Western Railroad.

SierraRail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A&K is a railroad materials company. They deal in
> second-hand and scrap railroad materials, so why
> are you referring to them as vultures? Evidently
> Yreka Western is for sale "for a price". Whoever
> pays the price, gets it! Remember, no rail can be
> removed until the Surface Transportation Board
> proceedings are completed. No abandonment filings
> have been made as yet.

A&K are vultures. A&K has a very common pattern. A subsidary of A&K will buy a railroad under the guese of continuing to operate the said trackage. They then stop all maintenance, spend nothing on the property, alienate any customers still using the track or might use it. Then with no customers left and a track struture totally shot to hell, they "have no choice" but to scrap the railroad, usually for much more than they paid of it. The list of A&K scrapped railroad lines is long. The A&K just did this with 140 miles of former MoPac trackage in Colorado a few days ago.

sp4294 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Did you know this isn't the first the YW went
> through this? And for all of those that think the
> YW's track is "bad". They couldn't make a trip to
> Montague and back with out the train derailing
> back in the 30's. And there were no customers on
> the YW at that time either. And yet it still came
> back. When Willis Kyle bought the railroad in the
> 50's it had one customer, and he managed to bring
> it back. And everyone says that there is no
> "commercial value" at the YW, well the railroad
> had a good tourist train running and it's right
> next to I-5, and there are plenty of other
> railroads that seem to survive off of the tourist
> traffic. And yes, I am going to defend the little
> YW, it's my place of employment, and I've got a
> lot of memories there from when I was a kid riding
> the Blue Goose and then working on it and the 19
> in later years as a volunteer until I became a
> paid employee, it's almost like a second home for
> me. It's the "Little Railroad the Refuses to Die"
> and there isn't anything that says it's dead or is
> going to die.
>

I wish you well. If the RR comes back and the steam train runs again, I will bring my sons up and we'll be patrons for a ride.

But I very much doubt the railroad could earn enough money to provide a decent rate of return on the asking price. And for that reason, I very much doubt a buyer will be found for anything like the asking price.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Someone said the same thing about the California Western a few years ago, and it is now owned by Sierra Railway. If you think about it, the situation is not all that different. The CWR is a shortline that only runs between Fort Bragg and Willits, lost a lot of business when the timber industry left, has no connection to an "active" freight railroad (although that may change in a few years), and was in danger of closing. The Sierra Railroad purchased the CWR a few years ago, and the railroad is now doing much better. From what I've read, the CWR is pushing for the NWP to restore active rail service to Willits and has customers that want to ship by rail.

I wouldn't count the Yreka Western out just yet. Until we see a formal abandonment filing, the YW is still viable.

BNSF6400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SierraRail Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > A&K is a railroad materials company. They deal
> in
> > second-hand and scrap railroad materials, so
> why
> > are you referring to them as vultures?
> Evidently
> > Yreka Western is for sale "for a price".
> Whoever
> > pays the price, gets it! Remember, no rail can
> be
> > removed until the Surface Transportation Board
> > proceedings are completed. No abandonment
> filings
> > have been made as yet.
>
> A&K are vultures. A&K has a very common pattern.
> A subsidary of A&K will buy a railroad under the
> guese of continuing to operate the said trackage.
> They then stop all maintenance, spend nothing on
> the property, alienate any customers still using
> the track or might use it. Then with no customers
> left and a track struture totally shot to hell,
> they "have no choice" but to scrap the railroad,
> usually for much more than they paid of it. The
> list of A&K scrapped railroad lines is long. The
> A&K just did this with 140 miles of former MoPac
> trackage in Colorado a few days ago.

Here is a historical note that kind of fits right in ...
When the KEY SYSTEM // National City Lines abandoned all remaining transbay electric train routes in the Oakland//Berkeley, CA "Eastbay" area as well as all trackage across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as well as the large Yard they had near the Toll Plaza, a gentleman named "AL BOYD" was the primary scrapper. Al had his office on "Helen Street" in West Oakland next to the Bay Bridge overhead approach ramps.
He resided in Alameda, CA near the South Shore area..

Guess what ??? Al was employed by "A&K Railroad Materials" ...
So now you know the rest of the story.

Ken Shattock (KRK)