Does anyone have any information on the status of the Kiski Junction Railroad? There were two active shippers, one on each leg of their two branches--a steel plant and a coal mine. I heard that the steel plant is closed for good and that the coal mine is currently shut down with an undetermined future. I can't find anything on-line and their official web site says there will be no excursions in 2017.

I recall it saying that late 2016. The page currently says "We are sorry, but we will be closed for Tourist Excursions until further notice. Thank you for your interest." Not a good sign. I don't know what is up as far as freight, if anything has been moved, but an article from October of 2016 can be found here:
http://triblive.com/news/valleynewsdispatch/11275628-74/railroad-kiski-river
Note how it insists that 2017 excursions would be happening, something that obviously never came to fruition. If anyone wants to track them down, contact information can be found here:
http://armstrongcounty.com/members/kiski-junction-railroad/
It'd be a real shame to see this one follow the path of the East Broad Top.

I notice that their web site has been changed as ColebrookdaleRailfan has noted. Before it had several menu options including "history", "excursions", "contact us", etc. Now, all you get is the splash screen below with no ability to navigate around. Sounds like the final nail has been driven in the coffin. It's a shame--my wife and I rode the line twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. The price was reasonable and the views along the Allegheny River were enjoyable. What's so interesting, I can't seem to find any articles about their closing down past October 2016. I would have thought that local newspapers would have written something up about its demise. An article in the April 2015 issue of TRAINS magazine mentioned that the railroad was now a subsidiary of Rosebud Mining, owner of the on-line mine.

This would be a wonderful place for a steam tourist railroad! It's close to Pittsburgh, has a scenic line, and the track to the mine is nearly new, having been constructed in 2010 according to the article. I'm not sure of the exact day, but I know it's less than 10 years ago. The grade itself is old, but the previous track was all gone, so the track they laid was brand new from the ground up.

What a perfect opportunity, nine miles of track in excellent shape (presumably).

I visited the line in September 2011, and, from memory, the relaid line to serve the mine was complete, but not in use at that time - opening being "imminent". The staff were takling about the possibility of running an extended tour train once the line was fully operational as well.
Certainly the only "tourist" line I have been on where the loco conducted some switching at the steel plant (?) at the end of the run and brought a couple of scrap metal cars back in the consist of the train.
Coupled with some linesiding of a steel plant industrial RR in Natrona (featured earlier that year in Railpace ) it made a "different" day out from the usual offerings at Cresson, where I was staying on vacation at the time.

Our first visit was in 2014 and our second was in 2015, According to the TRAINS article, the line was relaid with new ballast, welded rail and steel ties. The ride was very smooth. I never got to ride the other line along the Kiski River to the steel plant, but I understand that trackage was rather rough. Another one of my "never to be repeated" railfanning experiences.

The Kiski Junction RR was the closest tourist train, about 35 miles from my home. Unfortunately, first Rosebud Mining shuttered their coal mine, partly due to issues with Norfolk Southern not delivering empty unit trains on anything resembling a schedule, and partly due to the sagging coal market. Then Allegheny Ludlum Steel announced the permanent closure of their specialty stainless plant in Bagdad. No freight for the KJRR, so no passenger trains. The chances of anyone trying to run the railroad as a tourist only line are next to none. Schenley Pennsylvania is not exactly “on the map” being a one way in, one way out village.

https://triblive.com/lifestyles/morelifestyles/14041086-74/no-plans-for-return-of-kiski-junction-railroads-scenic-train-excursions
Recent "update." Essentially they aren't waiting to pull up the tracks, but they have no immediate plans to do anything unless the coal market turns around.