Jeff Moore Wrote:
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> It's been posted elsewhere that Redwood Empire has
> interest in using rail service. That being said,
> even if/when SMART and NWP get to Cloverdale they
> will still have to find a place to load cars in as
> much as the mill has no direct rail service, and
> four divided lanes of Highway 101 separate the
> mill from the railroad. There is a spur going
> into the Nu Forest/All Coast Forest facilities
> east of the new passenger depot, but I really
> don't know how much that spur got used for either
> them or Redwood Empire, or for that matter how
> much if anything Redwood Empire ever shipped prior
> to 1998 when trains still ran to Cloverdale. The
> real test is how much traffic Redwood Empire
> produces for which rail service is either cost or
> especially service competitive, or if they or
> anyone else ships enough from there to support a
> viable freight operation.
>
> Jeff Moore
> Elko, NV

Actually this post is incorrect. The main mill cuts logs to to be finished at the Asti plant.The Asti plant has a long rail spur and was a large volume active rail shipper for years. They truck finished lumber to their Morgan Hill distribution yard where rail cars are occasionally loaded. The spur and switch are still intact. As Jeff said the real test is how much traffic Cloverdale could generate especially when you include the cost to repair the the bridge over the Russian river at Healdsburg.