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Re: Railmark Holdings Acquires Yreka Western Railroad
Author: SP5103
Date: 01-16-2017 - 20:16
First the MRS-1 that was at Yreka - as I recall it came from Portola. I don't remember if it belonged to FRRS or was private, but I seem to recall Doug Morgan was somehow involved. Nevada Northern had initially planned to use it and the pair of xSMV 70 tons as their two sets of road power that were to run engineer only. I was checking on potential jobs before their startup and questioned their wisdom of enigneer only, and also told them they didn't need to panic about axle loading and why not just buy some of the former SP SD-9s out of the first order that only weighed about 165 tons instead of 180 tons. These were scattered in the low 4300s when rebuilt and I've never checked if NN got the light or ballasted units. The light units were common on SP's Oregon branches that had light rail or restricted bridges except those restricted to GE 70 tons.
Yreka Western had two former SP SW8 units with dynamics. If I recall the last SP numbers were 1113 and 1115, renumbered as 20/21 or 20/22? I believe Kyle bought these from Chrome Crankshaft for the YW, replacing another SW8 (xBamberger to OP&E?) and an Alco switcher that was scrapped on the property.
When SP sold the SDAE to MTDB, Kyle got the freight contract and operated it under the name SDAE. As part of the transfer, Kyle bought the SP SW8s that had been stranded in San Diego. Numbers that come to mind were 1110, 1111, 1118, 1125 and 1126. The 1118 was stripped on a track near the San Diego shops, and the major components were sent out for rebuild. Another SW8 (1110?) was stripped in the San Ysidro shops, and was to receive the 1118's rebuilt components. Unfortunately, Kyle gave up their contract to Railtex before any rebuild was substantially done. They scrapped the remains of the 1118 and the stripped engine in San Ysidro, and the remaining engine were shipped on flatcars to Kyle in Kansas.
Their might be one or two SW8s left in Kansas, leased/sold to elevators. I recall it was published that Court scrapped one of the SW8s in Yreka that was out of service as a few parts had been robbed to keep the other going. The Yreka xSP Sw8s might have been rotated through the SDAE while owned by SP, but they were not used by Kyle/SDAE. The 1100 SW8s were originally in the 4600 series, but in the 1965 renumbering they were renumbered in the 1100s - the TR6As, followed by the T&NO non-dynamic SW8s, next the SP dynamic SW8s. The TR6B units were 1150s, the SW900s were in there somewhere too before being rebuilt.
Court Hammond used a confusing array of companies. As I recall, something like the Rocky Mountain Railroad and Mining Museum bought the Yreka Western from Kyle's successors/heirs, and the freight operations were another company but the passenger operations were another non-profit. The same thing happened on the Wallowa Union, there was a parent company, a subsidiary but actually operated as a non-profit. WURR had a problem with property taxes claiming a for profit company had to pay property taxes, so the use of a non-profit in part was to get around this.
I make no claim as to the accuracy of this info as it has been too many years. In most cases, this is what I saw first hand.
Regardless - one of the xSP SW8s with dynamics has a good home in Oregon.
I
Yreka Western had two former SP SW8 units with dynamics. If I recall the last SP numbers were 1113 and 1115, renumbered as 20/21 or 20/22? I believe Kyle bought these from Chrome Crankshaft for the YW, replacing another SW8 (xBamberger to OP&E?) and an Alco switcher that was scrapped on the property.
When SP sold the SDAE to MTDB, Kyle got the freight contract and operated it under the name SDAE. As part of the transfer, Kyle bought the SP SW8s that had been stranded in San Diego. Numbers that come to mind were 1110, 1111, 1118, 1125 and 1126. The 1118 was stripped on a track near the San Diego shops, and the major components were sent out for rebuild. Another SW8 (1110?) was stripped in the San Ysidro shops, and was to receive the 1118's rebuilt components. Unfortunately, Kyle gave up their contract to Railtex before any rebuild was substantially done. They scrapped the remains of the 1118 and the stripped engine in San Ysidro, and the remaining engine were shipped on flatcars to Kyle in Kansas.
Their might be one or two SW8s left in Kansas, leased/sold to elevators. I recall it was published that Court scrapped one of the SW8s in Yreka that was out of service as a few parts had been robbed to keep the other going. The Yreka xSP Sw8s might have been rotated through the SDAE while owned by SP, but they were not used by Kyle/SDAE. The 1100 SW8s were originally in the 4600 series, but in the 1965 renumbering they were renumbered in the 1100s - the TR6As, followed by the T&NO non-dynamic SW8s, next the SP dynamic SW8s. The TR6B units were 1150s, the SW900s were in there somewhere too before being rebuilt.
Court Hammond used a confusing array of companies. As I recall, something like the Rocky Mountain Railroad and Mining Museum bought the Yreka Western from Kyle's successors/heirs, and the freight operations were another company but the passenger operations were another non-profit. The same thing happened on the Wallowa Union, there was a parent company, a subsidiary but actually operated as a non-profit. WURR had a problem with property taxes claiming a for profit company had to pay property taxes, so the use of a non-profit in part was to get around this.
I make no claim as to the accuracy of this info as it has been too many years. In most cases, this is what I saw first hand.
Regardless - one of the xSP SW8s with dynamics has a good home in Oregon.
I
