WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has denied a bid by the owner of the Skunk Train tourist operation to acquire 13 miles of abandoned Northwestern Pacific right-of-way, increasing the likelihood the entire route will become a public trail.
In a Thursday decision, the board ruled that Mendocino Railways, the Skunk Train owner, “has failed to show it is financially responsible to acquire, operate, and maintain” the segment of right-of-way in question. The railroad had offered $5.48 million offer to buy the section of rail line extending north from Willits, Calif.; its inspectors had estimated repair costs at an additional $7.24 million to $8.9 million.
The line was last operated in 1998 when a storm washed out sections of track along the steep canyons following the Eel River and collapsed some tunnels.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that Mendocino Railway CEO Robert Pinoli said he was disappointed by the decision, blaming the company’s failure to demonstrate its financial wherewithal, but said the company would not appeal.
The decision was hailed by supporters of the planned Great Redwood Trail, a proposed 320-mile hiking, biking, and equestrian trail from San Francisco Bay to the Humboldt County community of Arcata.
The 13 miles Mendocino Rail wanted to purchase is not even close to any of the land that had/has issues, those are the Scotia Bluffs, much further north. First though, I think Mendocino should concentrate on reopening the entirety of the Skunk line before thinking of extending northward. Rebuild the line between Fort Bragg and Willits first, then think about going further north on the NWP.
Also, it’s high time we put a stop to ALL rail to trail conversions and mandate rail banking only…thus preserving the right of way for future rail use. There’s plenty of open land that trails can be build upon and they can even parallel those same banked rights of way.
Let me get this straight. A railroad wants to purchase a right of way, but is told that they dont have enough money. Instead it will now go to a trail system and forever be the responsibility of the taxpayers. That makes sense to whom? 🤦♂️
While I am a fan of the Skunk Train and having their line extend north it sounds like they do not have the money to do so. As for the rest of the line north to Eureka there is no way that line will ever be rebuilt, the costs would probably be in the 10s of millions of dollars per mile and there will never be enough traffic to justify that kind of expense. That being said the old NWP was one of the neatest railroads ever built.
A couple of problems here…one the Port of Eureka is actually well suited for growth, if they had rail access to the rest of the network, which turning the route into a trail will kill…it’s not an economic boon for Humboldt County nor the rest of the North Coast.
Some people say, wouldn’t the bidders have their financing in place in advance? Well, typically no.
Most banks or lending houses want to see an approval to operate sometimes before they will agree to lend money.
However……interest rates for commerical lending have gone through the roof. Many banks have raised their capital contribution requirements extensively. One recent entity had a signed contract for 5.5% with 15% down. The day before the contract expired the bank called and raised the rate to 8% with 48% down. The day the contract expired, they raised the down payment to 52%. The buyer didn’t follow through.
So now is just not a very good time to be trying to create a startup.
Because our government is way over-printing money, the Fed had to raise interest rates to compensate, and in fact they waited too long and then raised it too quickly. Since we are restricting the extraction of our currency standard by which most global currencies are valued against (oil), we have put the global financial markets into a total turmoil.
Several countries are running into a liquidity problem as there is more demand to sell US Treasuries than to buy. And who would? With inflation they aren’t priced correctly relative to the bond markets.
Any right of way converted to recreational trail use can be re-acquired for railroad use via eminent domain. Of course, the railroad would have to have a viable business plan in order to justify acquisition.
Any trail will have all the problems with land slippage, flooding and constant deterioration that the NWP had. Plus there is the danger from the hinterland drug growers.
The trail will have problems with the land just like the railroad…but the drug growers are now legally operating their farms, so no more issues with them. If the owner said they failed to show their financial abilities, then why not just appeal and show the STB you have the finances to do so.
I beg to differ, Mr. McFarlane. Illegal grows are widespread in rural California today. Many if not most are connected to international cartels, and the threat of violence is severe. Parenthetically, this is a major issue for conversion of the right-of-way to public use, but that’s a discussion for another forum.
It is sad to see a right of way lost forever to rail. I don’t doubt the wisdom of the STB decision, but it would be nice if the future conveyance would require space left for future rail use.
Not so fast.. The Port of Eureka may have a say otherwise…. Since this is the only rail line into the Port, and they’re currently undergoing an expansion.
I wouldn’t put much faith in Port of Eureka expansion as it will be mostly tied offshore wind development and anything that can be brought by rail can also be brought in cheaper by water as it has a deep draft channel.
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Unless your confused with Port of Coos Bay farther north in Oregon which has an active rail line serving its port as well as a new proposed container terminal in the works.