CSX Transportation Inc. has quietly chugged out of Saginaw, Michigan, taking most of its jobs with it and selling its area operations to Saginaw Bay Southern Railway Co.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX spokesman Gary T. Sease said most of the roughly 90 union workers in Saginaw accepted positions elsewhere within the company.

Saginaw Bay Southern of Tawas, a small regional railroad affiliated with Tawas-based Lake State Railway Co., bought CSX's area operations and 80 miles of railroad track Oct. 29. Neither company would reveal the price.

The regional rail line also assumed control of the sprawling central railyard at 750 N. Washington and hired 24 employees, seven from CSX, said James George, president and chief executive officer of both Lake State and Saginaw Bay Southern. The railroad has 35 workers in Saginaw and a total of 75 in the company.

CSX is selling off smaller parts of its 22,000 miles of track across the nation to focus its resources in high-growth areas, Sease said.

"This is actually the first operation of this magnitude that they have spun off," said Wilford G. Gamble, vice president of operations for Saginaw Bay Southern.

Sease said he was unaware of any Saginaw layoffs at CSX, which has run trains through mid-Michigan since 1980.

"We're hiring people for jobs," Sease said. "It's not something that would result in furloughs or layoffs of employees. We are actively hiring employees to operate our trains." He did not know how many employees accepted other jobs.

"Almost all of them elected to stay with CSX Transportation," he said.

George said his company made it a point to hire CSX workers when possible because of their experience.

"A few chose to come with us, but a lot of them stayed because CSX was offering a bonus to stay," he said.

Employees who joined Saginaw Bay said the CSX bonus amounted to as much as $10,000, depending on seniority and the job. Not all workers, however, were offered a bonus or a job, they said.

Many with high seniority took posts at the CSX railyard in Flint.

Highly trained posts such as locomotive engineers fared well, but rail car repair workers didn't have as many opportunities, they said.

Benjamin Chadwick, a 27-year-old one-time CSX conductor, signed on with Saginaw Bay to stay close to home. "I really didn't want to move, (and) you're not stuck at hotels," the Freeland resident said.

Jeffrey D. Denay, 44, a locomotive engineer and conductor, said he took a wage cut of $4 an hour and gave up nine years of seniority with CSX to work for Saginaw Bay Southern. "I stayed because my parents are getting old" and live in the area, the Bay City resident said.

Most CSX workers didn't know their fate until the handover occurred last week, Denay said.

Saginaw Bay Southern declined to disclose wage rates at the nonunion company.

"They're compensated fairly well" with full benefits, George said.

The regional railroad hauls auto parts, chemicals, grain and coal, among other commodities, and counts among its freight customers General Motors Corp., Delphi Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and Consumers Energy. Parent company Lake State has 18 locomotives and 600 cars rolling over about 280 miles of rail line stretching from Bay City to Alpena and Gaylord.