Saratoga and North Creek Railway assets to be sold off.

Shane M · **Posted:** Sat Feb 12, 2022 11:24 am

https://www.accesswire.com/684888/DSI-to-Auction-Fabled-Historic-New-York-Railroad

NJDixon · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:36 pm **Posts:** 364

As I understand, the trustee has an amendment, requested by local officials, that whoever purchases the line cannot tear up the rails and convert it into a trail. The rails have to remain in place for future use. I like this particular quote: “I have spent a lot of time with the local officials. Their line to me is, the forest has an abundant amount of hiking trails. There’s no crying need for yet one more.” There are four bidders, a rail-biking company that was planning to work with SMS Rail Lines to run freight services at night, a different anonymous freight-hauling operation, a large local landowner, and an environmental organization.

https://dailygazette.com/2022/01/24/sar ... DqYDd8uWu4

Also, I see where a tourist line is beginning operation this spring from Corinth to Saratoga using Alco #5, the shop switcher used at Schenectady. The operation is called the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway.

https://corinthtrain.com/

traingeek8223 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 04, 2022 9:47 pm

The Tahawus Branch sold at auction yesterday and the new company plans on running freight trains:

https://railfan.com/former-saratoga-north-creek-line-sold-to-new-mexico-company/#

Trainlawyer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:08 am

This bid came out of left field and is well above what I expected to see.

A tad more from the Times Union:https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/North-Creek-Saratoga-rail-line-is-sold-to-freight-16975387.php

GME

co614 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2022 9:29 am

This is great news for the long list of unsecured creditors who can now expect to get a few pennies on the dollars they're owed.

Let's hope that the buyers plans succeed and the railroad comes back to a long useful life.

Ross Rowland

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 1087

An April 6, 2022 article on the Adirondack Almanack website:

Quote:

An apparent snag in financing has once again clouded the fate of the Saratoga & North Creek Railway, a bankruptcy court trustee said.

Carol McLean-Wright and her husband John Wright — operating as Doc N Dutchess Railway, a newly formed New Mexico-based LLC — submitted the high bid for the line at a March auction, but the trustee, William Brandt Jr., said Wednesday that they failed to submit a timely deposit on the assets.....Now, Brandt said he is negotiating with the second-highest bidder, a North Creek rail biking company, for sale of the line.

also:

Quote:

In a phone interview, McLean-Wright said Doc N Duchess put up the required $35,000 deposit to participate in the auction, but was not informed that further funds would be required prior to the May 6 closing. But she was notified that the company would have to put up $250,000, and later $500,000, to keep the bid viable.

That was a problem, she said, because the Doc N Duchess investors are in Europe, and large financial transfers are under added scrutiny due to Russia’s war with Ukraine, and the desire to keep oligarchs from moving their assets. She said Doc N Duchess officials were aware that financial transitions were being held up and for that reason asked that the closing date be set toward the end of the 90-day term within which the full amount must be paid.

Link to the full story- Derailed: Tahawus rail line sale hits snag

ZOBEX · **Joined:** Tue Nov 03, 2020 2:39 pm **Posts:** 69

This banking issue of hanging up funds is real. And it is BS because it all depends on who the banks want to screw around. I am currently having the same problem with a small mining operation in the Philippines. I have worked there for near or about 40 years, 25 years on the same island. This past 3 weeks I have had my own bank wire transfers jammed for absolutely no reason and the banks refuse to say any response. For 3 days now I have not been able to log into an account to move monies and it is not big money. All I get is, well there must be some security reason. I'm not talking Boris and Natasha here.

Hope they pull this off, 3.5M for 30 mile of probably good line sounds reasonable to me. So why not wait the full 90 days and take 3.5M over 1.5M up now. How about asking the credit holders if they want to wait the 90 days as per indicated in the article. I get the feeling the bankruptcy manager is looking for a way to sell to a different party. Good grounds for a lawsuit by high bid winner.

Reading the comments found on the page linked, sounds like a social justice, libertard issue. Another rent a bicycle peddle line. Troy can IM and selfie our friends from my titanium IPhone while peddling in our latest spandex outfits. The only concern for the bankruptcy is to maximize the recovery for the creditors. If I had planned on being a bidder/buyer, personally I would have just squeaked in at the last possible moment. Just to minimize the political / social noise that would bound to come up.

Makes me glad I am old.

.

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 08, 2022 5:37 pm

NJDixon wrote:

As I understand, the trustee has an amendment, requested by local officials, that whoever purchases the line cannot tear up the rails and convert it into a trail.

That goes out the window if they sell it to someone else.
Reminds me of a guy who sold his family's foundry to a company with the caveat that they must keep it as a foundry. A company who wanted the land for something else brokered a deal with a totally different company to buy it, they then sold it to the company who wanted it to start with, and the wrecking balls and bulldozers were being unloaded as the ink dried on the second sale.