To crmeatball- A couple things in your statement are conflating issues. There are multiple different parties at play here. SMART owns the property south of I think Healdsburg, NCRA has the line north from there. These are both public agencies, I'm not sure who owns SMART, but NCRA is jointly owned by the county governments of Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, and Sonoma counties. The $300k or so figure NCRA derives from real estate deals, encroachment leases, and the like help support the continued existence of their agency. NCRA also has a permanent freight easement over the line SMART owns, they have contracted operations of that out to NWP, a private company. NWP is supported in all reality only by the freight they haul, NCRA's real estate dealings have almost nothing to do with keeping NWP in operation.

If the tank car storage was the difference between NWP clearing a profit this year or not, what does this say about future years if that business doesn't come back?

On the plus side, there are reports now of some grading and other heavy construction work on going in Schellville, there are at least some indications this is part of building some new wine warehouses and the like, and that rail spurs are in the plan. GGRM has announced in the last couple days their new home will be inside part of this new development. This might result in some new traffic for NWP...but a very short haul.

I question a little bit the statement about 100k for a new switch being far above actual cost. Shortline Aberdeen, Carolina & Western on their website estimates No. 10 switch installation cost at $25,000 each, I don't know if this includes $12,400 for two switch timbers or ballast or any other costs. A preliminary cost estimate for a railroad relocation project in Tupelo, Mississippi, dated May 2006, estimated a new #10 turnout on wood ties as costing $90,000. The same document has a #20 switch on concrete ties as costing $250,000, and a #24 turnout on concrete ties as costing $300,000. What are SMART's turnout specifications, and how do their turnout installation costs compare to, say, what Union Pacific would ask to drop a turnout in their main line?

Finally, the question I still have is as follows. It has been reported NWP is on record as stating they have zero interest in operating any part of the line north of Healdsburg. At the same time there has also been discussions of potential traffic sources in the Cloverdale to Ukiah stretch. Say SMART one day does rebuild the line to Cloverdale, and NWP if it survives draws the line at Healdsburg. What then? Will NCRA look for a second operator for the line north of Healdsburg? And I'm still not convinced there will be enough traffic on the line that far north to sustain operations...carloads shipped are great, but it only really counts if there are enough of them to keep a railroad viable. I think NWP is still in business now because they don't have the typical cost structure of a typical shortline, yes they pay something to operate what they do but they don't have to bear the full cost of supporting all the tracks over which they operate.

Finally, there hasn't been a freight south of Ignacio in, what, close to 40 years now? Has anyone come up with any potential shippers that have definitely said they would use freight rail in that stretch should it be available to them again?

I sure wish the NWP the best...but I think it's clear they need some more revenue quickly.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV