Repair of Tunnel 13 photos

They are pretty much on schedule .. should have everything cleaned out by the end of this month .. then all they have to do is repair the rail and ties. Hopefully, they will use pre-fab rail sections and just haul them into place within the tunnel. If they go with ribbonrail, then it may take until about the middle of March to run trains through.
I don't know how much snow they had up there .. but the second week of January, we had over 4 feet here in a period of two days!
I drove over the Siskiyous yesterday and there's not much snow down at the tunnel level. We still have lots of it behind the house.

 

Bill-

How is the YW doing?



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The YWRR is on the verge of bankruptsie. There is a conflict about who the actual owner of the railroad is, so the Siskiyou County Superior Court has placed it a Receivership .. administered by Mr. O.J. LeBaron of Yreka.
All employees have been terminated as full time employees and have been placed on an 'on-call' status so that contractural obligations to Timber Products can be met.

Mr. LeBaron has indicated there is three possible solutions for the YWRR:

1. Survive long enough to see the tunnel reopen and reestablish freight revenue. But this would take the cooperation of all the creditors who are clawing at the door and it would take a long time (years .. maybe decades) to catch up and become solvent again;
2. Find a buyer who would be willing to assume the debt (not likely). However, there have been over 6 people interested in purchasing the YWRR;
3. Close the doors, sell all assets, abandon the line and sell all else for scrap. We are hoping that we can avoid this option.

 

I hope the receiver is "pro-railroad" so to speak. I agree that option two isn't a good possibility. About the only resource that might step in for that, would be government.

How much influence does the receiver have, insofar as any court decision?



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I do not know how much, if any, influence the receiver has. He is having a difficult time finding a Judge that will handle the issues at hand. I guess all the Judges want to do is collect a checque each month .. not work!

Mr. LeBaron has expressed a deep desire to keep the YWRR alive by acknowledging the value of the Blue Goose to the communities of Yreka and Montague. He has been in this area for many, many years (possibly all his life).
I feel confident that, if there is any way to save the railroad, he will move in that direction.
At this time we are trying to determine if there is any Federal or State grant(s) that may be available that can help us out. Any ideas out there????

 

Bill-

Due to the cause of this poblem, is there any sort of emergency/disaster funding available? County? State? Federal?



Boxcab E50

 

We are looking into it Boxcab. I'll let you know if and when I learn anything.

 

Thanks Shannon .. we appreciate the input, and I'll suggest the FEMA idea with Mr. LeBaron.

 

Word is that tunnel #13 can be walked through from one end to the other now. However, there's still a very large project to shore up an area where the ceiling caved in and the top is about 175 feet above the rails. CORP estimates having the tunnel open for traffic sometime in mid-March. This is very good news.

Additionally, the lowest hight of the top of the tunnel is now high enough to accomodate larger freight cars. They are currently making height measurements of tunnel #14 to see if it will clear larger cars. If this is a possiblity, the CORP will most likely get a very big boost of traffic over the Siskiyous from UPRR! WOW! What great railfan photo ops will be available then!

 

Sounds like great news. And if the clearance issue is a possibility, even better! Are those two tunnels the only potential choke points?

Hmmm. I just had a thought. When traffic resumes, and if it increases, there will be some folks along the line who will be whining about trains...... Duh.

How is the YW doing?



Boxcab E50

 

Boxcab .. Tunnel 13 was the lowest clearance of the tunnels. The YWRR is hanging on by the skin of the teeth. If we can just endure another 3 weeks ... *sigh*

Jim .. if we remain in business we will regain all the freight business that we have not been able to move again... maybe even more. We'll just have to wait and see what happens via the court proceedings. Next court date is March 2nd.

 

Am praying that you can hang on. Three weeks will take you past the coming court date. If the judge isn't in a big hurry to act............ I hope not.

Looking forward to some photos of the tunnel being open. And the YW moving freight!



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I received a telephone call from the foreman of the tunnel crew this morning. He said they are spraying Gunnite on the final areas of the south end of the tunnel. He also said that the CORP will start laying rail on Monday, 27 Feb 2005. CORP estimates it will take them four days to lay it (although that sounds sort of optomistic to me). CORP expects to have a train operational up there by the middle of March.
More news: Tunnel 13 has enough vertical clearance to handle oversize cars .. but not "doubles" (intermodal??).
Matt told me that UP has been calling him about twice a week wanting to know when the tunnel will be reopened. Sounds to me like the CORP will be picking up some of the freight from UP. Good news!

 

Sounds like good news! Hopefully, someone can get up that way, and catch the first train through. That would be neat!

And perhaps the YW will start picking up speed again. Quickly!



Boxcab E50