As much as the place in question LOOKS like the remnants of flooding or some overflowing landslip from a scrap yard in the photos, trust me when I say that everything you see in the photos was placed there intentionally, if not rationally.



I believe he bought it or otherwise obtained legal possession of it (I doubt you could get away with stealing it). I have vague, and possibly incorrect, impressions that this was one of a long string of cabooses that ended up at one point in the custody of the B&O Museum. I don't remember any reports of it being trucked, and it's just possible that it was shoved to end-of-track of the Cockeysville Industrial Track back when Conrail/NS still actually ran some stuff up there, before there was some falling-out about whether he could indeed authorize such a shipment.

Here is a little tid-bit of info

http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readin ... /42210.pdf

It just strikes me as odd that CSX would let the "shoving platform" that was in the best condition of any in the Baltimore area go like that, especially since it's one that they either allowed or sponsored employees to fix up. That car was being used in the area on a regular basis by local switching crews. There are at least a couple of other commemorative "shoving platforms" around the system. I know that the Great Lakes division has one painted B&O, generally assigned to Willard, but I believe was recently seen working the Lester-Lorain local. Too bad if it gets scrapped because of this. These remind me of the former Chessie System brightly painted "Safety Cabooses" from the '70's.

The controversy continues. [eye roll]

Somebody (not mentioning any names) apparently spent the last couple of days moving stuff off the property where the auction was. The caboose was seen being "spirited away" by road last night (with or without legal permits).

By this morning only eight lots were still on the property--along with two Baltimore County police vehicles (two more later showed up, including a representative from the Md. Environmental Police to answer queries about the watershed abutting the property and what the could or couldn't do, remove, etc.). If you look at the auction list, the only "lots" remaining were 109 (Burro cab), 110 (some ex-Amtrak tie or rail thingamajig), 114 (concrete ties), 115 (truck axle and tires), 120 (the five bridge beams), 122 (loader wheels & motor), 125 (more concrete ties), and 130 (landscaping "blocks").

The auctioneer sold them all as ONE lot. $3,200 plus 10% premium.

The successful bidder has supposedly worked on scrapping other material for Riffin in the past, and it appears that they are negotiating a deal to let stuff remain past 48 hours (the required removal time that was an auction condition). If you really need those bridge beams, I will suggest that the scrapper has been mentioned here before, most recently concerning some trucks I "saved" a year or so ago, and he does know and work with preservation outfits.

Suffice it to say that 1) there was a lot of disappointment from the bidders with both the reduced offerings and the lot consolidation, and 2) there appeared to be some considerable, erm, polite discussion going on between the police, the auctioneers, and a certain person on site, who for some reason took pains to take photos of me and others who showed up (I returned the favor)....

A representative from the B&O Historical Society was there; he explained that the caboose in question was traded by the B&O Museum back to CSX in trade for the very last B&O/Chessie caboose that was delivered for the Museum collection, and the Museum itself painted the caboose in that special paint job at the request of CSX. How it got to Riffin's "property," and where whoever took it to, remains a mystery for the moment, but it will be "tracked down" and its existence (for now) acknowledged for a pending book on B&O and B&O Museum cabooses.

The auctioneer indicated to me that the auction involved a foreclosure of the property in question, including a separate foreclosure on a warehouse on the site.

The Latest on Mr. Riffin:

http://citypaper.com/news/down-by-law-1.1371481

Haven't been paying attending to this thread till someone brought it back up again. It's sad to hear about situations like this all the time now. Shoreline railroad owners out of touch with reality, not willing to change or let new ownership take over. Then they are forced to abandon by the government. Anyway, here's another picture of B&O Caboose #904032 @ the B&O Museum in happier times.

B&O Caboose #904032
http://www.trainweb.org/marcrailfan/b&o904032.jpg

Enjoy! ^_^

Like to see this caboose end up getting a new home, where it will be taken care of. Worst case, it will end up being scrapped like everything else. -_-

Here are some 2009 photos of his former site including some interior shots of the caboose and one shot of the man himself. Scroll through the photos and you will get an idea of what was going on there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patgavin/3 ... otostream/

There's something I'm a bit confused about, so please pardon my ignorance -

I see two different websites:

http://www.stewartstownrailroad.com/ -is this the website of the non-profit "Friends" group?

http://stewartstownrailroadcompany.com/ - is this the website for the railroad itself? I believe I saw that it is a for-profit group, so I believe it's not for the "Friends" group.

I see fundraising links on both pages as well...is there one that's "better" to donate to? How do these two entities work together towards the betterment of the railroad and the overall cause?

Judging from this new STB filing, the York County Rail Trail Authority is wondering what is happening with the Stewartstown Railroad.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... enDocument

Does this group want the rails removed, or are they interested in a joint rail/trail like exists elsewhere?

The County already has a joint rail/bike trail on the York-Md. State Line portion of the RR (and Md. has a trail from there to the north side of Cockeysville, Md.). The single track on a double-track right-of-way was left in place to share the right-of-way with the bike trail, as has been done with, as another example, the Western Md. Scenic RR.

I am aware of a proposal to have the York County Rail Trail Authority assume ownership/responsibility of the New Freedom-Stewartstown section (the original, actual Stewartstown RR), but I will point out that unlike the PRR/Northern Central line, there is NOT enough room/right-of-way over the entire line for both the track and an additional trail. If they want a trail (which would be a nice one, BTW), either the track goes, or it gets covered with gravel/pavement.

Sorry for the confusion. The website "stewartstownrailroadcompany.com" is the official website of the Stewartstown Railroad Company.

For the past few years the website "stewartstownrailroad.com" has been used by the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, Inc., the nonprofit railfan/booster group dedicated to the railroad. This website domain was not owned by the Friends group, but "loaned" to it by one of the organization's members. When the member who owned the website decided they wanted to "repurpose" the domain for something else, the Friends organization decided to register a website that it would own. Thus, the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad's website is now located at stewartstownfriends.org

The donation link on the Stewartstown Railroad Company website was changed recently so it takes the reader to the Friends website where tax-deductible donations may be made. -- Ray

I saw this ad and wondered what it implied, for use of the track, future operations, and community opinion:

http://railswap.org/osc/classifieds/index.php?page=item&id=723

Just thought that I might brighten Brother Mitchell's day:
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7f93537688b8e5852573210004b318/ae8593dc083fabd085257a930058ce1c/$FILE/233153.pdf

In my experience a bankruptcy, especially a contested one, is not the pro-forma process which he seems to wish it to appear and since the estate's goal is the repayment of the debt, not its disappearance, it might not be in their interest as the 'auction' might not fetch sufficient funds to satisfy said debt. Further, there is a logical disconnect here since, were the line sufficiently viable in the commercial sense to be able to raise sufficient funds through a bankruptcy proceeding, it would certainly have been able to raise the funds, based on its revenues, without all of the falderal.

GME

Would it be possible to explain all of this in English? Not even the whole thing, just the bottom line?

I'm thinking the Stewartstown needs to get someone to deliver one single freight car.

Actually, the Stewartstown Railroad did recently deliver a local carload of firewood to a local church along the line, and another with company supplies for the recent New Freedom Fall Fest to the yard in New Freedom. The connecting Northern Central line needs to be put back in service in order for the STRT to receive interchange freight. -- Ray