What about your kids?

Shortline Sammie Wrote:
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> Hood River Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So assuming that out of the ashes the Mt. Hood
> RR
> > emerges, who will buy it? Back to local
> control?
> >
> > Tourist trains require expensive insurance and
> > track maintenance and not much commercial
> traffic
> > comes on or off the line so would not think any
> of
> > the short line operators will be running to the
> > table.
> >
> > Trying to figure out who is owed what and how
> many
> > liens are against the property(et.al) might be
> > difficult, but one would think prices will be
> > reasonable as the creditors want to be cashed
> out
> > and done with it you would think.
> >
> > Grab the popcorn, sit back and see what
> happens.
>
> OPR has been looking at it and talking with Hood
> River County who has the real estate lien against
> it. The only way it could ever be viable without
> the passenger traffic (which has caught the FRA's
> attention over a couple of Christmas train
> derailments) would be to abandon everything past
> the last customer and salvage the track materials.
>
>
> Shortening the total mileage would reduce future
> property taxes. The new owner(s) could possibly
> dispose of the excess right of way to the county
> for a recreational trail...maybe for forgiving
> some of the back taxes. Taking out the track and
> just letting the right of way sit would still
> create a property tax liability if the railroad
> still was the owner so owning less is better. If
> it were on separate tax lots that were marketable
> it would be a different story but the Oregon
> Department of Revenue "centrally assesses" all of
> the railroads assets as a single item (divided in
> the counties in which it operates) so the
> trackless right of way would still be assessed.
>
> As the old saying goes..."the only thing certain
> is death and TAXES" and I'm afraid it's all over
> for the Iowa Pacific empire as we knew it...DEATH
> has come...TAXES remain.
>
>
> For power a single remote controlled switcher (RCL
> unit) would suffice for a one-person operation and
> the same person could perform the weekly track
> inspections and fix anything minor. Without the
> passenger operation and with little or no hazmat
> there is no requirement to have the track in
> anything but "excepted" status. Just be sure to
> keep gauge on curves within Class I tolerance for
> the FRA insprctor.
>
> Now that I've shared my secrets and babbled
> on...someone go make a go of it...I'm too old for
> a new adventure of this magnitude ! ! !
>
>
> Dick Samuels aka Sammie
> Oregon Pacific Railroad