I stayed up waaaaaay too late trying to trace some leads and questions on the internet.

It turns out in regard to the phosphate/phosphorus and related rail operations, we were all a little bit right for the most part but WAY off. I found the most convoluted corporate, mining claim and railroad patterns that can only be rivaled by the modern day frac sand business.

It will take me a few days to sort this out primarily using government documents and the company's own websites. I will try to post a timeline that explains how all this is related if anyone is interested. There were some clear surprises to me on the railroad side.

As far as modern day ops - I checked the satellite view to find "Buster" in the tail track at the Wooley Valley reload. It looks like Agrium has ended mining for now at Dry Valley station and reclaimed the pit, though the loader, shop and offices are still standing. No railcars on that end of the branch, but the Wooley Valley spur had cars spotted. Remember that the Wooley Valley reload is not visible or publicly accessible. I was specifically looking for it years ago and drove right by it.