Pre-2001
 

Railpace Magazine. March 1995 Issue.

Railpace Magazine. February 1996 Issue.

GP-9's ran on the line before. Now the CQPA brought GP-9's back!

Railpace Magazine. November 1996 Issue.

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[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. December 14, 1999.

[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. December 14, 1999.

[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. December 14, 1999.

Railpace Magazine. January 2000 Issue.

[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. January 14, 2000

[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. January 14, 2000

[*NEW] Youngstown Vindicator. December 14, 1999.

Story from the Business Journal. January 19, 2001.
Columbiana Port Authority to Buy Y&S Railroad for $1.08 Million
By Dennis LaRue

Authority would take title to the railroad in mid-April; trains would start running in July.

A lawyer for the Columbiana County Port Authority, Keith G. O'Brien, officially notified the U.S. Surface Transportation Board Jan. 14 that the authority will meet the price the board set, $1.08 million, for the Youngstown & Southern Railroad.

That notification seems to quell opponents' campaign to derail the authority's efforts to restore the 35.7-mile short line, owned by Rail Ventures Inc., which runs from Youngstown through northern Columbiana County to Darlington, Pa.

With the official filing at the STB, the port authority expects to take title April 17 or 18, says its executive director, Tracy V. Drake, and see the first train run on its tracks in July.

Work to restore the ripped-out track and paved-over crossings won't begin before the authority takes possession, he says. He also reports that elected officials in Pennsylvania are working to secure a grant through the commonwealth's Department of Transportation that would defray the costs of restoring the tracks in Beaver County, Pa.

Charles Bishara, one of the partners in Rail Ventures Inc., would say only, "No comment," on whether he and his partners, Michael Morley and David Handel, would appeal the price. The STB has the authority to set the price at which a railroad must be sold if the offeror and seller are unable to come to terms.

Last fall the STB deemed the port authority's original offer, $419,360, a bona fide offer. The authority raised its offer to $441,700 upon a reassessment of the value of the line that has seen no traffic in three years.

Going into negotiations with the authority in December, RVI asked $1.47 million, increasing that figure to $2.26 million when it became apparent an agreement would not be reached.

The authority became involved to help businesses along the line, especially those in Columbiana County, who believe that restoration of rail service will allow them to grow and hire more employees.

As Drake reiterated Jan. 11, after the authority's board of directors unanimously authorized the purchase of the line, "This is the right thing to do for economic development in the region. This railroad can be a powerful economic-development tool."

Sixteen businesses in Mahoning, Columbiana [Ohio] and Beaver (Pa.) counties, Drake reminded his listeners, "have expressed interest" through letters of commitment. Another 13 have been identified as capable of benefiting when the line is restored, he says.

The Arkansas-based Dar-denelle & Russellville (D&R) Railroad, which will lease and operate the Y&S, expects to show a slight profit the first year, netting $250,000 each of the first four years and paying the authority $93,000 a year to amortize the $1 million the authority will borrow from National City Bank for 20 years.

In addition, the Ohio Rail Commission agreed in December to award a grant of $500,000 to the port authority, and the state Department of Transportation will make another $300,000 available for repairs and to restore highway rail crossings.

The D&R will operate the Y&S under the aegis of Columbiana Central and Pennsylvania Railroad Co.

In setting the purchase price of the Y&S at $1,080,560 ­ $350,000 for the land and $730,560 for the net salvage value ­ the STB noted it may not set a price below the fair market value of the line. Fair-market value must take into account its scrap value, should it be scrapped.

The net salvage value, the STB determined, is $788,560. From that sum it deducted $58,000 for work that must be performed to restore highway/rail grade crossings.

It also sided with the authority in its real-estate appraisal of the land. Because RVI had already sold and transferred land ­ land that would have generated income to the new owners ­ the STB deducted $100,000 from the authority's appraisal of $450,000.

"Because RVI's transfer of interest would result in taking income from the line," the STB wrote, "it would reduce the value of the property. Accordingly, we reduce the land value by $100,000 to compensate for this loss of income."

The STB also declared the grade-separation crossing agreement between Boardman Township and RVI, signed Nov. 5, "contrary to the public interest and unenforceable" Should the authority have walked away, the STB said, the agreement would have stood.

The agreement would have compelled the railroad using the track to build, at great cost, an overpass or underpass where Southern Boulevard and U.S. Route 224 intersect. Y&S tracks run parallel to Southern Boulevard in Boardman.

Opponents of the line's reactivation charged that trains crossing Route 224 would exacerbate traffic congestion and pose a safety threat.

The day after the authority acted to buy the Y&S, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed rules that would require trains to sound their horns at all public highway rail-grade crossings "except at select crossings that meet specified criteria for quiet zones."

The agency states, "Many people are potentially affected because they live close to crossings in communities with whistle bans [and] the Federal Railroad Administration expects to prevent fatalities, injuries and collisions" once it's effected.

Railpace Magazine. March 2000 Issue.

11 Area Companies Support Quick Repair of Y&S
The Business Journal Online. MidJune 2000

Port authority asks STB to issue an order allowing repair work to begin before the title is transferred.

By Dennis LaRue

From Youngstown to Darlington, Pa., 11 companies that would use the Youngstown & Southern Railroad have petitioned for repair work on the line to begin while Railroad Ventures Inc. still holds title.

Keith G. O'Brien, counsel for the Columbiana County Port Authority, filed a "Request for Issuance of Directed Service Order" June 8 with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. It is his second such request.

A directed service order by the federal agency would allow the Central Columbiana & Pennsylvania Railroad, which will buy the line from the port authority once it gains title from Railroad Ventures Inc. of Boardman, to begin repairs of the Y&S. It would replace rails, ties and ballast that have been removed, uncover track that has been paved over at 49 railroad crossings between Youngstown and Darlington and replace the track at two others where it has been removed, says Tim Robbins. Robbins is vice president of the Central Columbiana & Pennsylvania Railroad (CQPA) and its parent, Arkansas-based R&R Railroad.

Robbins notes the D&R Railroad sought to have the Central Columbiana & Pennsylvania abbreviated CC&PA so its initials would be identical to the port authority's. CC&PA was taken, he reports, leading the STB to issue an abbreviation of CQPA.

The first request for the agency to issue a directed service order was denied in March, Robbins says, because the STB anticipated that title to the line would be transferred by April 6 and that date was fast approaching.

Robbins says CQPA had made arrangements with the Ohio Rail Development Commission for it to release its $500,000 offer of financial assistance for line repairs and had the commitment of another $600,000 from Ohio Department of Transportation to repair rail crossings, including those along Southern Boulevard in Boardman.

"We had locomotives on the way to Youngstown and had to turn them back," he recalls.

Delay in transferring the title from Railroad Ventures Inc. to the authority also forced Robbins to lay off six of the seven employees he hired before they could start their jobs. Walter "Bud" Ganes, the general manager, "is the only one to go to work," Robbins says. "Four had quit their employment to work for us."

Among the companies that signed the petition in support of the directed service order are Penn-Ohio Recycling Inc., American Farms Produce Inc., and Wester Fuel & Supply Co., all of Youngstown; Boardman Supply Co. and R.L. Lipton Distributors, Boardman; 84 Lumber Co., Add Iron Corp., and Crouse True Value, all of North Lima; Insul Co., East Palestine; and Donahue Railroad Equipment Service and General Shale Products, both of Darlington, Pa.

The petition states that these companies "have been adversely impacted by the unlawful embargoresulting from the premature termination of rail service over the line."

The president of Boardman Supply, James Pipoly, says, "I'm 100 percent for [restoring service]. Eight years ago we bought a [railroad] siding for brick delivery. That was about the time service was discontinued." Today, with building brick in such high demand, brick makers favor customers who can accept brick by rail, he says, a statement confirmed by Zane Reed, plant manager of General Shale Products, which acquired Darlington Brick Co.

At R.L. Lipton, operations manager Joe DePizzo says he favors restoring service because Anheuser Busch wants its distributors to be able to accept their beverages by rail.

"It's been so long since we had to [accept a rail shipment]," he says, "five or six years, but we had to send our trucks 15 to 20 miles south of here to be offloaded." Anheuser Busch, not Lipton, determines when and whether its beverages are delivered by rail or truck, DePizzo says.

Add Iron has been hindered in its ability to grow and serve its customers for want of rail service, says Steve May. "It has a line [spur] coming into the shop" and would ship "200 to 300 carloads a year" upon resumption of service.

The 14 employees of Donahue Railroad Equipment recondition second-hand and used railroad cars, says its general manager, Jack J. Smith. Donahue finds it cumbersome to repair and recondition railroad cars without tracks and would average two to three cars a week in traffic on a restored Y&S.

At Insul, its president, Michael LaBate, continues to be frustrated by having two spurs from the Y&S leading to his properties and seeing no traffic on them. "Our position would be greatly enhanced, we'd be much more competitive," he says, with a working railroad. "We can't afford to ship by truck. We have clients in Mexico, Texas and Utah we can't serve because we can't ship by rail," he says. "Every day we see more opportunities we can't take advantage of."

Expecting to use the Y&S, Insul built a load unloading facility in 1996 that it has never operated and moved a gas line to accommodate its second spur, he says.

At Crouse True Value, two boxcars and a caboose sit 10 feet away from the North Lima hardware store, says John Crouse, son of the owner. Restoring service, he continues, "would give us easier access to lawn and garden equipment [shipments], salt and peat moss. Whenever you can palletize something, it's a lot easier to ship and unload," he says, "and we would pass the savings on to our customers."

When his grandfather owned the store in the 1930s and 1940s, he recalls, "We received all our grain off the railroad."

At 84 Lumber, manager D.J. McConville would like to see rail service restored because "it would allow me to a get a lower cost on my materials. It [the Y&S] is just two steps away and it would allow me to provide a lot better materials to my customers."

And at American Farm Produce, a food wholesaler in Youngstown, owner Chris Herubin says, "I know it would be to our advantage to use it [the Y&S]. Potatoes especially would be easier to distribute."

©2000 Youngstown Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Railpace Magazine. December 2000 Issue.