Railroad Forums 

  • Saratoga & North Creek (S&NC) Discussion - 2014

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1267439  by griffs20soccer
 
Here is an interesting article. It appears S&NC is looking into running trains into Rensselaer. I don't know if this is pie in the sky or if it's possible. I know right after they started operating the line Ed Ellis brought it up in an interview. It looks like they are going to take the 1st step. Hope the link works.

http://poststar.com/news/local/railway- ... _form=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There have been several articles the past week or so and if you check the comments you'll see our trail friends are at it again.
 #1267639  by bk77
 
In light the proposed sale of IPH to these investment firms, I wonder if Ed Ellis and co. got a little in over their heads with the SNC, especially since the article that was posted here last week about the sale states the railroad has had trouble keeping up with paying its bills to Warren county and others. Perhaps IHP was banking on freight traffic to be the steady income, which still has yet to materialize. After all, tourist trains can be a VERY tricky operation. I don't know what the ridership is like on the SNC as I don't live near there, but I do know you really need to regularly pack trains to meet expenses and overhead, which can be quite challenging.

At any rate, I do hope they have a solid future as I still have yet to make a visit and ride the line.
 #1267670  by traingeek8223
 
In light the proposed sale of IPH to these investment firms, I wonder if Ed Ellis and co. got a little in over their heads with the SNC, especially since the article that was posted here last week about the sale states the railroad has had trouble keeping up with paying its bills to Warren county and others. Perhaps IHP was banking on freight traffic to be the steady income, which still has yet to materialize. After all, tourist trains can be a VERY tricky operation. I don't know what the ridership is like on the SNC as I don't live near there, but I do know you really need to regularly pack trains to meet expenses and overhead, which can be quite challenging.
I highly doubt that the affairs of the Saratoga North Creek had anything to do with the sale of it's parent Iowa Pacific. Remember, SNC is just one of the many railroads in the IP fold. From what I understand the cash flow problem was company wide and stemmed from an issue that developed after the Arizona Eastern sale. It is far more likely that IP over extended with the flurry of railroad and equipment purchases over the last few years and has not seen a quick enough return on investment. It is my understanding that SNC is now operating efficiently and being well managed (locally managed I might add) and that operations are running in the black. Developing freight will definitely be a benefit to the process though.
 #1268384  by griffs20soccer
 
I just received my newsletter from the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust. In it they state that they will be receiving 3 heavy weight ex-CN coaches from S&NC which will be delivered throughout the summer. They also took possession of the ex-UHRR open air car #108 this week. It was delivered by flatbed truck. It looks like S&NC is getting rid of equipment they have no use for and cleaning out some of their storage.

Don
 #1268627  by Benjamin Maggi
 
griffs20soccer wrote:I just received my newsletter from the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust. In it they state that they will be receiving 3 heavy weight ex-CN coaches from S&NC which will be delivered throughout the summer. They also took possession of the ex-UHRR open air car #108 this week. It was delivered by flatbed truck. It looks like S&NC is getting rid of equipment they have no use for and cleaning out some of their storage. Don
As much as I like the S&NC, it was the "rustic" feel of the heavyweights and especially the open-air car that made it feel like a scenic tourist train and not a regular train. My wife and I don't enjoy the new equipment as much, even though the speeds and scenery are faster. It just isn't as quaint anymore. Oh well, such is progress.
 #1272691  by RussNelson
 
Took a speeder ride (34 of us) from North Creek down to 1.4 miles short of the CP switch on Saturday, and on Sunday from North Creek up to just beyond the north leg of the wye (past MP0). The flat car (with a light crane on it) is still there, as is the snowplow. The snowplow could still be restored, but it's looking pretty sorry.

The four-track yard is still all in place. We used the eastern two tracks, but the western two look usable. The wye has a small bit of washout and is brushed over (the south leg). The north leg is fouled by the snowplow. Would have been fun to turn the railcars on it. There's a large landing where they will be able to load hopper cars. The mine is still owned by National Lead. Only the railroad got sold, and only up to the current end of the tracks, which is at MP -0.22
 #1272783  by Old Muley
 
I stopped by the North Creek depot on Saturday morning, noticed all the out of state pick-up trucks, many with RR Vanity plates, and with trailers parked at the depot..hmmmmm, something is up. The only speeder I saw was marked S&NC parked near the depot. I checked this site, checked the S&NC site, nothing mentioned about an event, so continued on our way to Saranac Lake.

Who sponsored & coordinated the event? Would have been fun to see and photograph the parade.

What a great ride, North Creek to Tahawus beautiful country in there.

Where is the CSX switch? Do you mean the CP connection?
 #1272999  by pumpers
 
To the Speeders from the weekend (or others). Was there any sign of the stone business SNC has been talking about? Last I heard CP wasn't interested in the short haul to Albany (to load into barges to go to Long Island or wherever), so there was some small scale transfer-to-truck operation in Corinth. Don't know if that turned into regular traffic or not though... If they are going to hit the summer construction season for stone, they better get it going soon.
JS
 #1273220  by RussNelson
 
Justin was talking about exactly what was going to happen. Basically, they're going to run hopper cars up there, transfer the stone over from the mine in dump trucks, pile it next to the tracks, and load it into the hoppers using front-end loaders. So .... nothing needs to be done at the north end.
 #1273264  by pumpers
 
I presume you are talking about loading hoppers in the area of the mine, and by "nothing needs to be done at the north end" do you mean no new trackwork etc. near the mine. Or do you mean they will truck it from the mine area and load somewhere else. I don't think you meant they will truck all the way down to Corinth to load though.
And then to follow up, how will the stone leave SNC? By rail via the CP connection in Saratoga, or by going back to truck in Corinth (if they load at the mine) or elsewhere...
Thanks, JS
 #1273753  by RussNelson
 
pumpers wrote:I presume you are talking about loading hoppers in the area of the mine, and by "nothing needs to be done at the north end" do you mean no new trackwork etc. near the mine.
No new trackwork. They'll use the eastern-most track (which used to be the main) as the loading point. They would need to be doing a LOT of business to be able to afford new tracks there. High value business, like mining more titanium, and not shipping rusty rocks.
And then to follow up, how will the stone leave SNC? By rail via the CP connection in Saratoga, or by going back to truck in Corinth (if they load at the mine) or elsewhere...
I don't know. Didn't ask Justin that.
 #1273778  by Adirondacker
 
RussNelson wrote:...High value business, like mining more titanium, and not shipping rusty rocks.
The great big pile of rusty rocks is there because they didn't want to ship them along with the titanium ore. It's not worth it to ship rusty or unrusty rocks from the four corners of the globe but Long Island is going to need concrete until the sun turns into a red giant and incinerates us all.
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