The principle local parties involved- YW, Timber Products, Roseburg, Suburban Propane- all have very good reasons to keep the Siskiyou Line in operation. They all need it for their various operations. That being said, I find it very hard to believe that these parties will be able to make it work economically, or will be able to offer rail services at a price the shippers can afford. The written record so far on the alternate service sought by the parties is long on complaints about the price increases leveled by CORP but suspiciously short on specifics about how these parties would actually do any better than CORP did. All indications point to the fact that CORP lost money hand over fist on the south end of the Siskiyou line over the last couple years, and I seriously wonder how these people could do any better. The principle shippers- Timber Products and Roseburg- seem to have enjoyed some "we're going that way anyway" rates, and I doubt they will be willing to pay the true cost of operating and maintaining that rail line once their traffic becomes the only thing sustaining it.

My understanding in looking through the STB documents I have read is that CORP will maintain the lease and still be considered the operator of the line, with WT&L providing the alternate rail service on top of it. CORP is on record stating that they will require any supplemental operator to have enough insurance to protect themselves and to indeminify CORP against any claims or incidents that may arise out of WT&L operations. This will answer the insurance question raised earlier in the thread. As for excursions...good luck on that one. UP still owns the tracks between Weed and Ashland, and no third party excursions will operate over that trackage until and unless someone buys it from UP.

The railfan part of me likes the idea of this line handling trains again, but the business part of me says that if it does happen we better get our photos in the first couple weeks of the resurrection as it may not last much longer than that.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV