DENVER — Some 30 miles of New York rail line formerly operated by the Saratoga & North Creek Railroad has been sold for $3.33 million to a couple whose company plans to ship titanium ore from a mine on the route.
The Albany Times Union reports Doc N Duchess Rails LLC, owned by Carol and John McClean-Wright, outbid two competitors in a bankruptcy auction held in by a Denver court for the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad and subsidiary Saratoga & North Creek, former Iowa Pacific Holdings properties that went into receivership in 2019.
Carol McClean-Wright told the newspaper that, with the backing of financial partners, the company has rail equipment and is in the process of buying a mine at Tahawaus, N.Y., from Mitchell Stone Products. The site has been mined for iron and titanium in the past but currently serves as a gravel pit; McClean-Wright said there is titanium that can be extracted from tailings at the site.
Doc N Duchess outbid Revolution Rail, which had entered a stalking-horse bid of $700,000 in January and has operated a rail-bike attraction on the route, and the Sierra Railroad. McClean said the new owners would try to work with Revolution to allow the rail-bike operation to continue.
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