Has anyone done a survey to determine net liquidation value (NLV)? If this exceeds the amount of indebtedness, then surely capital for a mortgage could be found.

What is the position of the Stewartstown and York County regarding this potential tax revenue enhancer? Perhaps TIF District financing or a loan by the city and/or county could be gotten, financed with 10-20 muni's. Anyone thought about donating to town council or county commission campaigns? A few hundred bucks in small races like that can go a long way toward buying face time and a sypathetic ear. I know it shouldn't be, but this is the reality of small "d" democratic governance (and especially with big "D" politicians). Once the railroad is safe from Bucks County Hysterical Society, then perhaps some of that shortline money that PA is known to pass out could be applied for.

Who are the largest donors to Bucks County HS? They've raised $11+ million dollars in the last couple of years and that did not come without some big chunks. Perhaps finding their donors and getting a sympathetic ear with some of them would help, perhaps by filtering their donation to the "Friends" group or threatening to cut future funding if they are not more flexible. Who is the former Congressman that chairs their fundraising effort buddies with? Who were his campaign contributors? Find out if Bucks County HS has pissed off any local pols or influential members of the community. Call the extended family members of the BCHS board members or their employers and put pressure on them.

Also, seems to me that York County could be persuaded that Bucks County is trying to foreclose on a York County landmark - this should be able to engender a turf skirmish or two. Thought about help with state legislators? York County pols could get their backing if they were interested. Also, lots of bad press for Bucks County. Get the Enquirer and/or the local rags to gin up some controversy-inducing stories. Follow the model of the Agitator-in-Chief and you will get somewhere. Is there any significant demographic differences in York and Bucks Counties? Could this be turned into "rich suburbanites preying on a poor farming community" type of thing? Remember, the squeaky wheel(s) get the grease.

Seems to me a dedicated, politically savvy group of 4-6 folks could pull this off. You've still got some time. Adverse abandonment proceedings can get tied up for months and can be difficult to get done with any degree of success. Make sure to file every piece of STB paper you can throw at them to slow them down. Perhaps you should get that nut Riffin to advise you on screwing with them, just keep his name out of it lest the STB roll their eyes or pound their heads against the wall.

I still think that forced bankruptcy could be the only way that they could proceed, but that usually takes more than one (usually 3) creditors to make happen. Has the SRR board thought about filing for bankruptcy protection from Bucks County? You don't have to include all creditors in a proceeding. The other option is to fight the adverse abandonment (see City of South Bend v. Norfolk Southern, re: Notre Dame branch) and just let Bucks County sue SRR for repayment of the note. What are the enforcement mechanism(s) of the lien? Is it secured with anything specific?

Lots of questions and useless suggestions, but trying to see if any of this is outside the box of the thinking of those closest to the situation.

Best of luck,
Mike
Mohawk, Indiana

New River,
All of your ideas have been pursued during the past three years. Some are still "in progress" today.

Yes, the Estate did a thorough appraisal of all of the railroad's assets and those assets do exceed substantially the amount of the lien. However, as the line was literally shut-down for four years (2004-2008) the railroad does not have the cashflow history required for a bank loan, even with a 125-year business history. (Since the banking crisis/recession started banks have tightened-up considerably on their loan requirements.)
-- Ray

Well, that's great. Sounds like you are exploring every possible angle...

Best of luck.

Mike

Let me restate my earlier question more bluntly: Does the Estate, that is owed money by Stewartstown, have legal standing to file an adverse abandonment application? After all, abandonment of the railroad does not appear to have public benefit: the primary beneficiary of an abandonment is the Estate, a private entity.

This would, from my recollection, set a dangerous precedent, if any creditor could force a company to abandon operations without first pursuing their claim in the courts.

Nick

This is probably a question that will be answered during the upcoming STB proceedings. -- Ray

If the debtor cannot provide a reasonable means of repaying debt through operations, and if abandonment won't adversely effect the public good, then, basically, yes. The money is owed and BCHS has tons of money to throw at this in order to ram it through.

I don't believe this is setting a precedent. The precedents were set in the 1970's when major eastern class 1's were about to fail, which would have ground life in the Northeast to a halt. The solution was a temporary nationalization of those railroads that were too important to fail, but too unprofitable to continue operating. Penn Central paychecks bounced more than a few times in those days, and in 1974 the Trustee of the CNJ began shutting down his railroad, until the New Jersey agreed to better compensate the company for commuter services rendered.

The STRT has a great gang of caring individuals doing their best to bring it back. However, it hasn't had freight to move in over a decade, and it's connection is out of service. I'd prefer to see it (and many other OOS lines) rail-banked in case of future need, however, that does not change the fact that by law, the Estate must collect 357 thousand dollars owed to it. At the very moment, no freight traffic is threatened by the abandonment, and that's where the big focus will be. I would hope that a good case can be made for saving the corporation and property for future freight service, however, between intermodalism, and the loss of small-town manufacturing, the need for rail freight service in that corner of the world is basically non-existant now.

-Micah

Nice to show "interest", isn't the museum group still active working at getting it to work?

Still trying to collect, huh...

The sad thing the estate isnt trying to help make the line work either, just wanting to collect the money.

I suppose we knew this had to happen...

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7f93537688b8e5852573210004b318/ab9513edc1b5cc9b85257989005ebfa8/$FILE/231702.PDF

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7f93537688b8e5852573210004b318/554aee1b111c06c585257989005ea10a/$FILE/231701.PDF

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7f93537688b8e5852573210004b318/dc94783626f62ce385257989005e6ab8/$FILE/231700.PDF

GME

So what am I reading in these links...who is this guy, and why the screaming?

I suppose we can file that under. "It was only a matter of time."

Well, one of these days he may just end up with his fantasy becoming reality. It seems to me that the number of filings and fees he has completed and paid would have added up to a nice little investment in some shortline somewhere...

I suppose we could say he has at least earned the title of STB Gadfly.



Mike

However, how reasonable is it to expect that he succeeds in this case?

...heeeee's baaaah-aack.