Hard to believe, but CSX is offering the Mountain Sub, B&O's "West End", for sale. Course there's a story that CSX is trying to unload track to make it more profitable so that UP will buy CSX. Incredible!
CSX has had the West End AND the Cowen Line up for lease (or sale if price is right) for most of the summer. The last I heard, the original deadline arrived and CSX asked for 8 of the original bidders to bid again. Trust me.............CSX won't sell to a rival like Norfolk Southern or Union Pacific. CSX would let them have it but UP and NS would end up paying way above the line's worth. I talked to CSX engineer in grafton in late August and said he was told he had 90 days to decide either to find a new line of work or transfer to Richmond, VA at the beginning of the year. Two front runners for purchase or lease of the line are the Wheeling & Lake Erie (makes the most sense) or R.J. Corman.
The line isn't for sale. There are bids in to lease the line but no decisions have been made yet. Other potential operators have included RailAmerica and Genesee & Wyoming. As for the information about a Union Pacific takeover of CSX, that is pure speculation at this point. (And rather reckless, I might add, to be posted without information to back it up.) It's always fun to watch people post information like that without any solid basis for their claims, or even a mention of who the poster actually is.
ICC would shoot a UP/NS merger down in a heartbeat. UP already has problems with being literally too big for it's britches.
Maybe a UP/CSX combination. I wonder if the UP still owns all that B&O (now CSX) stock the PRR sold them years ago? Bill
TO Brian S- I read this in the October issue of Railpace Magazine - that the Sub is up for sale. Ok, from what I read here, maybe for lease, too. The magazine also said that CSX was divesting lines in a move to make itself more attractive to UP for purchase. So it's not my "speculation" per se, but what they reported. It's always interesting to watch other forumers cop an attitude and assume that something was just made up without simply asking the poster to clarify what their source was. Dave H. Baltimore [ 08. November 2004, 15:51: Message edited by: BnO_Hendo ]
This is crazy! I don't want to hear of CSX wanting UP to buy them out that will stink bad! But as fasr as this goes, being a CSX topic it should be in the CSX forum, so, I'm moving it to the CSX forum section of the site.
The ICC nixed CN and BNSF and placed a moratorium on mergers, after the UP/SP merge meltdown fiasco, which I believed has expired by this time. CN has since gone on to acquire the WC, B&LE and DM&IR which are smaller in size and excluded from the ICC moratorium.
Well, I hope they nix it. But knowing the pro-business atmosphere in Washington these days, and the fact that the ex-CSX chairman is now Treasury Secretary, one never knows.
Fleet of RJ Corman trucks spotted at the station here in Buckhannon, along Cowen Sub. I doubt if that means anything.
Our own Jerry DeBene just got a job on a new railroad, the Alabama & Tennessee River, that started operations about 10 days ago. It's based in Gadsden AL, and was formed from track CSX either sold or is leasing to them. They're part of a group like RailAmerica (but not RA itself). He told me the name and I forgot it. When he has his computer again, I'm sure he'll fill us in on the details. He said this was one of the most popular subs on that part of CSX and you needed like 10 years' seniority to get it. Now the people who went with the line have it - on the ground floor, so to speak. They use lots of SD40-ish power, including tunnel motors...
Anyone know who owns the company? I've been digging everywhere. But there's no mention of CSX doing this. And no mention of the A&TR. Seems like there would be an announcement of this some place? Hmmm. I guess Dave is correct! Jerry will need a new handle! Boxcab E50
