Passenger Trains > Another Ed Ellis Flop.

San Luis & Rio Grande, Mount Hood Railroad Placed Into Receivership;

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/09/13-san-luis-rio-grande-mount-hood-railroad-placed-into-receivership

He picked some winners with the shortlines he acquired. Too bad that he never got pass the "kid in the candy store" stage when it came to trains.

Which one in reality would make money if purchased?

CPRR Wrote:
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> Which one in reality would make money if
> purchased?

I believe he picked up some shortlines which did well with the fracking boom, but he spent it all at the candy store.

I hope these two operations get turned around and are still running for many years.  I've heard both are beautiful rides and I have yet to check either of them off my bucket list.

I am guessing that the creditors pushed to place these two RRs into receivership as they view them as having the best chance of getting some, most, or all of their money back.  I was given to beleive that Iowa Pacific was a maze of numerous corporate cubbyholes most reduced to little or no value.  I doubt that Ed Ellis will have much to say how these two operations are run going foward.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/19 14:51 by mns019.

The big unknown in all of this and the biggest probable creditor of all are the "substantial claims" by the IRS.  What ever happens, they are going to get paid first.
 

mns019 Wrote:
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> I am guessing that the creditors pushed to place
> these two RRs into receivership as they view them
> as having the best chance of getting some, most,
> or all of their money back.  I was given to
> beleive that Iowa Pacific was a maze of numerous
> corporate cubbyholes most reduced to little or no
> value.  I doubt that Ed Ellis will have much to
> say how these two operations are run going foward.

These two railroads are the only IPH properties owned outright by IPH.  The other RR's (Chicago Terminal and Mass Coastal) operate and leased trackage, or there is another party invovlved with the ownership.

IPH had two shortlines, the Arizona Eastern and West Texas & Lubbuck/Texas & New Mexico that were decent money makers.  They were sold off at considerable profit to fun the Pullman Journeys project.  AZER and WTL contributed greatly to IPH's bottom line.  When they were sold, that income was lost, along with the ability to pay the daily expenses.  Once the cash from the sales of the AZER/WTL was gone  IPH started down the drain. 

And don't forget his takeover of the Hosier State that didn't last long either! Anyway what happened to EEE anyway!

Sad to see, but classic over expansion, and selling the profitable properties to prop up the unprofitable ones.

He also proved what the airline industry has proved many times since the 1970's....The market for 1st class luxury service is very limited in this day and age.  He got a lot of newspaper hype about the pvt car service on the CoNO, but few ppl wanted to pay for a luxury train ride on a regular basis.   My brother and his wife rode it when they lowered the price to 2 for 1.  He loved the trip, but never would have ridden it iof he had to pay the regular fare..

Doesn't IPH have some involvement with the Grenada Railway in Mississippi?  It's the former IC line between Memphis and Jackson that used to be used by Amtrak's "City of New Orleans" before it switched to the line via Yazoo City. 

Granada Railroad is no longer a part of IPH.  It is now run by Rail USA.

Not any longer.  IPH sold its operating rights to International Rail Partners in 2018.  IRP is Gary Marino's (aka RailAmerica) latest shortline holding company.

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
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> Doesn't IPH have some involvement with the Grenada
> Railway in Mississippi?  It's the former IC line
> between Memphis and Jackson that used to be used
> by Amtrak's "City of New Orleans" before it
> switched to the line via Yazoo City. 

Both are good rides.  The Mt Hood is closer to the larger toursit market and great mountin scenery.
The other would be a harder sell for the tourist market, but an intereting piece of scenic-mountain railroading.

Agreed.  I don't think the Mount Hood will be a hard sell to keep going as a viable tourist operation with a little freight on the side.  The SLRG, however, is a LOT of infrastructure to maintain for a relatively small amount of traffic.  It is also the San Luis Central's only link to the national rail network.  Either those SLC potatoes will go to trucks, or local governments will step in to preserve rail service.  My gut tells me the latter will be what ultimately happens.  This is not a line that can be profitably operated for freight, let alone passenger operations.  But it's also a rail link to a remote area with several industries using rail service.

Either way, I agree wtih the post above that EEE won't have anything to do with future operations, nor do I believe he should.  His string of failures and financial irresponsibility should have been clearly evident years ago when he was seeking to further indebt these operations.  My biggest concern is that he so deeply leveraged so many pieces of historical equipment that the creditors will stop at nothing to recoup at least a small portion of their investment, up to and including not thinking twice about scrapping equipment.

Ross, feel free to tell us what a brave and pioneering individual Ed is any time now.  He should have thrown in the towel a few years ago, rather than continue to try and dig his way through to China.  I have a really bad feeling much of this equipment will join the Dollar Shave Club rather than be preserved because of his actions.
  

 

One of the longest running skirmishes in the corporate world is the fight between the visionaries and the operations guys.

The people who want to create something new and wonderful, and the folks who want to improve or just keep what we have, but not get too far out in front of our skis. I've worked for both, and it's never an easy issue.

Few people on this board believe that intercity passenger rail in the US is done well.  There are visionaries who want to create something new and wonderful, and folks who are trying to make something better within the constraints of a system that has extreme limits. The Hoosier is an example of both.

Ed Ellis was willing to dream and then step up and create new things (the mail and express, for example, or the Hoosier Flyer improvement) which might have become wonderful. But didn't. I think that should be celebrated.

I also think that every visionary needs a numbers guy / girl alongside to keep an eye on the money, and vet the cash flows of the business.  It's too easy to get sucked into the dream and lose sight of solid ground...

Your last sentence so eloquently explains what I was trying to.  Nicely stated.
 

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> And don't forget his takeover of the Hosier State
> that didn't last long either! Anyway what happened
> to EEE anyway!

The Hoosier State was in no sense a railroad. Just an extravagant experiment at the cost of Indiana's Taxpayers.

DevalDragon Wrote:
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> ProAmtrak Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And don't forget his takeover of the Hosier
> State
> > that didn't last long either! Anyway what
> happened
> > to EEE anyway!
>
> The Hoosier State was in no sense a railroad. Just
> an extravagant experiment at the cost of Indiana's
> Taxpayers.

Also the entire rail operation of Hoosier State was still done by Amtrak T&E crew. Operationally all that IP provided was serviceable rolling stock and OBS.

The more I think on it, the more I see Ed Ellis as Lyle Lanley, and The Simpsons being on the cutting edge of predicting real life way before it happens.  Comedy gold for this forum right about 2:23 in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM