Trying to make a long answer as short as possible…the ownership division point between what KCC donated to the museum and what they sold to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power back in 1985 lay at MP 127.9, at or near McGill Junction. LADWP conveyed the trackage they bought jointly to the City of Ely and the NN Foundation in 2005, who leased it to S&S in 2009. Under the settlement agreement the City and Foundation are retaining the trackage between MP 127 and MP 127.9, their Great Basin & Northern Railroad filed with the STB to replace S&S on that trackage. The full settlement agreement is on the STB website at the following link:

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Reading between the lines in the agreement it appears the Shafter to Cobre line might be doomed, but the City/Foundation also agree to support S&S in their efforts to find grants or other monies to rebuild the rest of the main line. The less rosy aspect is S&S is a Michael Williams operation, he did manage to resurrect much of the old Dakota Southern but didn’t do much of anything in terms of rebuilding parts of the old Camas Prairie even with a lot of local support and s TIGER grant in hand. It’ll be interesting to see which direction this goes. In the meanwhile the most recent STB decision affecting the NN/S&S proceedings can be found here:

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Lastly that S&S truck and ballast regulator in Currie haven’t moved in about ten years now.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV