Western Railroad Discussion > Great Redwood Trail initiates Mendocino Rwy Adverse Abandonment

Greetings- Six days ago (14 March 2024) the Great Redwood Trail Agency (GRTA), formerly known as the North Coast Railroad Authority, formally initiated with the Surface Transportation Board its Adverse Abandonment case against Mendocino Railway, formerly known as the California Western Railroad.

GRTA says the following in its Notice to Initiate filing:

"The reason for the proposed abandonment is to obtain a determination that public convenience and necessity require and permit abandonment of the federal interest in the MR Line. Applicant owns land adjacent to the right-of-way of and connects to the subject MR Line. Applicant claims that the land has not been used for Board-regulated rail transportation for over 20 years. Applicant claims that there is no reasonable prospect for such use in the foreseeable future. A determination by the Board that public convenience and necessity permits and requires abandonment of the MR Line in those circumstances would extinguish the federal interest in the MR Line and make the prospect of a beneficial non-freight-rail use more probable. In addition, Applicant claims there are significant environmental health and safety concerns associated with the current use of the property because of an alleged abuse of MR’s status as a rail carrier. Moreover, abandonment of the MR Line will make other public projects in the area more feasible."

The full filing is available on the internet at the following:

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/DCMS_External_PROD/1710543267721/308100.pdf

On the same day GRTA also filed a 299-page long Environmental Materials report that provides draft answers to a lot of the questions raised as part of the environmental review process, along with a number of attachments including correspondence, court decisions calling into question Mendocino's common carrier status, assessments pegging costs of rehabilitation the old NWP from Cloverdale to Willits at north of $56.5 million and the Mendocino Railway between Fort Bragg and Willits at $31.5 million, and a variety of other documents.  It should be noted that GRTA is at this point proposing to adversely abandon/extinguish Mendocino's common carrier obligations, as stated in the following passage from the Environmental document:

"The MR Line is suitable for alternative public use. GRTA expects the existing tourist excursion service on the MR Line to continue.

In addition, the MR Line is suitable for alternative public use under 49 U.S.C. § 10905.  The right-of-way runs through areas of great natural beauty and if converted to interim trail use would provide excellent hiking and back country experiences which would stimulate Northern California's tourist industry. A trail would provide a tourist attraction and an active non-motorized transportation commuter route.

There is no need for the land on the MR Line for additional highway or utility use, which is adequate in the involved territory."

GRTA anticipates filing the full formal application with the STB on or about 5 April 2024. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

I'm sure the Trail Nazis would just as soon remove the tracks, tourist train or not to have their pristine trail. Any railroad group would need to be very wary of those people least they have another Catskill's type of fiasco. The Oregon Coast Scenic RR also has had to deal with these people.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

funnelfan Wrote:
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> I'm sure the Trail Nazis would just as soon remove
> the tracks, tourist train or not to have their
> pristine trail. Any railroad group would need to
> be very wary of those people least they have
> another Catskill's type of fiasco. The Oregon
> Coast Scenic RR also has had to deal with these
> people.

This is absolutely correct.  These people are extremely entitled and have access to unlimited public funds to develop their delightful "hiking and biking trails".  They will do whatever is necessary to use the court system to get what they want.  They are an existential threat to ALL RR rights of way.

I am not a trail Nazi although I ride on those in Washington and Idaho frequently.  I would say that while not pushing for rail right of ways to be abandoned to be turned in to trails, that result is a lot better than letting them go to the adjacent land owners.  Take the Palouse to Cascades trail in Eastern Washington.  Sure now it is trail, of sorts.  But the right of way is still mostly intact and therefore at some future point it could be turned back in to a rail line with significantly less cost than trying to buy a new right of way.

There's legal provision for potential reuse by railbanking. For better or worse Mendocino Railway is trying to insure
their access to live rail by using the common carrier provision to try and gain control of the Willits to Cloverdale line.
Loss of that control would mean that more than likely no revenue freight would ever run again on the MR. Also it
would dismiss any hope of aggregate business North of Willits. Both of those potentials might be pie in the sky but
some hope is better than none.

Out 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/24 16:41 by callum_out.

The one positive note here is that California is Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..

czuleget Wrote:
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> The one positive note here is that California is
> Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..

You are not allowed to talk badly about the state that is run by the next Vice President of the US - Gavin Newsom.  Who will then become the next President of the U.S after Biden "resigns".  Brace yourself.  It will not be pretty when Newsom is running the whole country.

czuleget Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The one positive note here is that California is
> Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..

California is about a $4 trillion economy.  That is $4,000 billion.  $70 billion is a large sum, but California has a large tax base.

czuleget Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The one positive note here is that California is
> Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..

You might need to check the definition of broke, that's the projected revenue shortfall because of lower tax revenue. California is the 5th largest economy in the WORLD, I'm pretty certain we have more than 70B in cash reserves not to mention the fact that the governor has already proposed cuts in the next budget to rectify the short fall.

Topfuel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> czuleget Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The one positive note here is that California
> is
> > Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..
>
> You are not allowed to talk badly about the state
> that is run by the next Vice President of the US -
> Gavin Newsom.  Who will then become the next
> President of the U.S after Biden "resigns". 
> Brace yourself.  It will not be pretty when
> Newsom is running the whole country.

It’s already not pretty. What ever happened to them seceding from the nation?

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

ALCO630 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Topfuel Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > czuleget Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > The one positive note here is that California
> > is
> > > Broke. in the tune of over 70 Billion..
> >
> > You are not allowed to talk badly about the
> state
> > that is run by the next Vice President of the US
> -
> > Gavin Newsom.  Who will then become the next
> > President of the U.S after Biden "resigns". 
> > Brace yourself.  It will not be pretty when
> > Newsom is running the whole country.
>
> It’s already not pretty. What ever happened to
> them seceding from the nation?
>
> Posted from iPhone


We decided to stick around and make you uptight Right Coasters miserable.

PHall Wrote:


>
> We decided to stick around and make you uptight
> Right Coasters miserable.

Don’t do us any favors, it’s bad enough we have New York.

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

ALCO630 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
>
>
> >
> > We decided to stick around and make you uptight
> > Right Coasters miserable.
>
> Don’t do us any favors, it’s bad enough we
> have New York.


And Taxachusetts too!

>
> You are not allowed to talk badly about the state
> that is run by the next Vice President of the US -
> Gavin Newsom.  Who will then become the next
> President of the U.S after Biden "resigns". 
> Brace yourself.  It will not be pretty when
> Newsom is running the whole country.

Im not a Newsome fan, but better than a white supremicist wanna be dictator and Putin lover ,  who wraps himself in the flag, as if a true american is a Russia loving white supremicist.
His  "Freedom"  really means freedom for he and his cronies to do whatever the F--K they want to.   You think making this country a dictatorship will be pretty?  Be careful what you wish for.