I can't provide info on a lot of the cars which are used on the various shortlines/excursion operations, or for the cars which are parked in Alamosa, but as far as the cars which have been used on the various charters on Amtrak routes are concerned, as well as the Hoosier State, a number of those cars (excluding the ex-AT&SF [and the single ex-GN] full domes) carry Mid America's MRLX reporting marks, which means they are on lease from Mid America or from private owners who use the MRLX reporting mark due to UMLER. There is another car which has been under lease from a private owner, but that car doesn't currently carry MRLX reporting marks (it used to; there are several cars that in the last couple of years have had MRLX replaced by others.)

At least one car, which is on an Iowa Pacific property, does however, fall outside this definition, and that is the ex-ACL chair (coach) on the Mount Hood RR, which although it carries an MRLX reporting mark (actually, this is past tense as well), is not being leased from Mid America. Rather, the MRLX reporting mark was applied as part of the COT&S when the car was being prepped for removal from the Memphis Transportation Museum in Collierville, TN.

Also, someone recently posted over on Trainorders that they had been told that the former Minnesota Zephyr Dinner Train cars (I don't know about the engines, but I suspect this applies to those as well), which are currently in Alamosa, are being stored by Iowa Pacific for another unspecified/unidentified party. I currently don't have any more info than that, or if that's even actually the case.

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Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

I also just thought of the former Santa Fe Hi-Level El Capitan chairs which Iowa Pacific has been using on the San Luis & Rio Grande/Rio Grande Scenic (the actual SLRG, which Iowa Pacific uses as the reporting mark for many of its cars on various lines/services) out of Alamosa, which are being leased from John Radovitch/Dallas Terminal RY and therefore carry DALT reporting marks.

Also, in addition to the nee-ACL chair on the Mount Hood, 2 cars in Alamosa also had MRLX applied as part of the COT&S while still at the Memphis Transportation Museum (MTM): the nee-WAB parlor lounge observation #1600, and the nee-AT&SF 4 double bedroom-4 compartment-2 drawing room (4DB-4C-2DR) Regal City (which as far as I know still carries its name from MTM, Winston Hoover, and has not received its planned Iowa Pacific/SLRG/Pullman Rail Journeys name of Gilman). These 2 cars have also been changed to SLRG along with the nee-ACL chair.

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Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

I am responsible for MRLX reporting marks on the COST&S dates on some of SLRG cars in Alamosa. The reason for this was do to the fact that I was not an employee at the time and I just felt like it. Ownership would be based on the road number vs the COST&S marks. My employment was delayed for 5 months, so after June of 12, all the cars I moved switched to SLRG markings. So any SLRG cars with MRLX COTS, were air tested between 12/11 and 6/12.

As for leased cars, some of the heavy weights were purchased out right, and some were leased. The MRLX cars are probably still owned by the original owners, but I have been separated from them for about 3 years.

Jason

There are so many issues at play here I really don't see why you are so concerned about that equipment. Beyond what I have read here I understand that some of the cars are on long-term lease and some may (or may not) be used as collateral for loans.

So why don't you just pretend like those cars do not exist until something changes or more information comes to light? This is not a big company structured like NS or UP who clearly owns everything they use. It is a house of cards that even the primary officers may not know how it was constructed.

T7

You might be surprised just how much equipment railroads supposedly "own" are subject to lease and financing arrangements. Ever seen those "equipment trust plates" on the sides of freight cars and locomotives?

Even short lines get tricky. I was told of one short line company where the locomotives purportedly "owned" by the short line were in reality held by a leasing company set up under the control of the short line's CEO, to lease the locomotives to "himself." This sounds ridiculous and inexplicable unless you delve deeply into the tax codes and accounting practices that supposedly make practices like this a "no-brainer"--part of the extremely arcane tax codes that many demand be cleaned up or dispensed with, save for whatever little deduction benefits them personally of course.......

So, no, it's not "clear."

In the case of Iowa Pacific, the only duty we have is to identify anything that might be subject to bank liquidation auctions or the like. And if we manage to grab stuff for a penny on the dollar of "assessed value," what would that do to any future financing attempts of outfits like the Grand Canyon/Xanterra, Rocky Mountaineer, etc.?

Some more news, from KTRE-ABC Channel 9:



Link to the full article: Texas State Railroad back on the tracks (2017-02-15T16:42:11)