Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, Inc.

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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

Unread post by 59caddy »

Our computer engineers have located the problem with the signal programming, somehow two blocks of code were switched, and they're fixing it now. Signals should be working by 22:00 tonight.

On a side note, we have begun negotiations with the RJ Corman Railroad Group, based in Nicholasville, Ky. We have slightly changed our corporate strategy, we are now concentrating on purchasing only shortline holding companies now. Esacanaba & Lake Superior and Lake Superior & Ishpeming will have to wait for now.

We have now completed our first corporate restructuring; all of our railroad properties are now under the corporate title 'Great Lakes Central Railroad Properties, Inc.' This is only somewhat of an experiment, we can always change it back and have everything under one corporation.

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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We are reaching a deal with the Anacostia & Pacific Company, a small shortline railroad holding company based in Chicago, Illinois.

They are the owners and operators of these five railroads:

Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad -- Operates on all former CSS&SB trackage from Chicago to South Bend, a branch to Stillwell/Dillon, Indiana, and trackage rights to Joliet, Proviso, and the Port of Chicago. Primary commodities include chemicals, grain, steel, roofing materials, paper, and manufactured products.

Gulf Coast Switching Company -- Provider of switching services for Robinson Yard in Dayton, TX. Their major commodity is plastic materials.

Louisville and Indiana Railroad -- Operates on 106 miles of trackage from Louisville to Indianapolis. They also operate an inland port facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Their major commodities include cement, food products, grain, lumber, paper, plastics, scrap, and steel. They have been designated a future high-speed corridor by US Department of Transportation.

New York and Atlantic Railway -- Operates on 269 miles of Long Island Railroad trackage on Long Island. Their major commodities include lumber, paper, building materials, food products, and recyclables.

Northern Lines Railway -- Operates on 25 miles between St. Cloud and Cold Spring, MN, with major commodities being aggregates, building products, chemicals, paper, and stone.

Pacific Harbor Line -- Operates on 59 miles of track serving mainly the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles, which together make up the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere. Major commodities include just about anything!

The deal price we have reached is not yet being disclosed, but it will be revealed to all soon. Be ready for more updates on this! :D

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Saturnalia
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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The CSS&SB Ry, as a passenger carrier, is exempt from claiming. Gotta be sure of no objections first. We'll let them be posted here within the next 48 hours. :wink:
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conrailman75
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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In real life, NICTD owns and runs the passenger service on the South Shore and the Anacostia group has the freight rights over the line. I think they are just the contracted freight operator as I believe NICTD owns and maintains the right of way and controls the dispatching for it as well. And NICTD stands for Northwest Indiana Commuter Train District and is a Indiana state government agency for those who don't know.
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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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MQT3001 wrote:The CSS&SB Ry, as a passenger carrier, is exempt from claiming. Gotta be sure of no objections first. We'll let them be posted here within the next 48 hours. :wink:
Nobody has spoken up, so we've got the contract :)

We've obviously spoken to the State of Indiana about this, they're okay with it.

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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We have completed negotiations with Anacostia & Pacific Company, a railroad operator and consulting group, about acquiring them. We completed the transaction yesterday in a deal valued at $200,548,431.83.

We look forward to continuing A&P's extensive reputation of superior service and customer satisfaction, and we will use all of their and our resources to continue their outstanding service.

The deal will become effective on Wednesday, June 19, and approval from the Surface Transportation Board will come soon after if approval is granted.

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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News:

We have completed the purchase of former Ann Arbor Railroad trackage from Alma to Mackinac City and Frankfort, Michigan. This trackage will become the property of our rail subsidiary Great Lakes Rail Holdings, LLC, and will have the commercial name of Ann Arbor, Lake Michigan, and Mackinac Railroad. Along with the purchase of these tracks was all of the Ann Arbor Railroad's GP38 and dash 8 locomotives, as well as their train ferries across Lake Michigan. The deal, valued at $335 million, will become effective on July 1st, 2013.

We have changed the corporate name of our rail holdings subsidiary to Great Lakes Rail Holdings, LLC, from the original name Great Lakes Central Railroad.
Last edited by 59caddy on Fri Jun 21, 2013 4:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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cfriedri
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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The Alma and South Michigan Railroad already made purchase of the Ann Arbor Railroad from Osmer (Ann Arbor) through Durand to Alma. According to the owner of the Ann Arbor Railroad, your purchase was north of Alma, not from Ann Arbor to Durand.
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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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cfriedri wrote:The Alma and South Michigan Railroad already made purchase of the Ann Arbor Railroad from Osmer (Ann Arbor) through Durand to Alma. According to the owner of the Ann Arbor Railroad, your purchase was north of Alma, not from Ann Arbor to Durand.
Made the edit. :wink:

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Saturnalia
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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Don't forget MQT has passenger-only trackage rights thru 2015 on the Old Ann Arbor up to Mackinac from your south border. This is complete with a permit for steam operations through the end of this year. Currently, no trains are scheduled, and we will let you know when we need to exercise the rights.
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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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We are proud to announce that we have purchased the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in a deal that will become effective on Thursday, July 18, 2013. Negotiations between the two companies were completed last week, and an acquisition petition is being sent to the Surface Transportation Board for approval.

"We hope to continue Wheeling & Lake Erie's excellent customer service tradition, and provide our customers with the best transportation of their products possible," said Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC vice president, David Kingston. "With this new asset, we will have access to the rich economic connections of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania."

"We are very confident about the service that will be offered from the railway's new owners," said Arthur Parsons, CEO of a chemical company we service in Pittsburgh. "The railway has always been essential to our company, and we are looking forward to conducting business with Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC."

The deal is valued at about $87 million, and includes all of W&LE's trackage, trackage rights, rolling stock, and any associated buildings and structures in use by the railway.

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. has approached the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City to undertake a film shoot on the Long Island Railroad. Their request asks for the use of both LIRR passenger train equipment and tracks and the use of equipment from our subsidiary New York & Atlantic Railway. We hear they are also sending a request over to U S Rail Corporation for use of their Brookhaven Rail Terminal with possible use of their terminal switchers. MGM is using the railroad for a large chase scene involving dangerous stunts and some unusual train movements. The shoot will be about 2 weeks long. Unless MTA rejects the MGM's filming request, we will make an extra $5,000/day for every day of filming.

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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MGM's film shoot was approved by MTA, and filming begins today. They plan on completing a scene where a stuntman jumps from a bridge onto a tank car within a moving train. They should take the entire day with filming the four planned takes for this scene.

Tomorrow, they plan on filming the entire scene where the actor is transported on the freight train to the next LIRR station.

On another subject, we will approach the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway about acquisition of the railroad. In doing this, we are taking a gamble with the success of the railway due to the recent tragedy in Lac-Megantic which took place on their tracks; however, this accident is the very reason we are approaching them, as we anticipate devaluation of the railroad and desire for new management from customers and the general public.

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cfriedri
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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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59caddy wrote:MGM's film shoot was approved by MTA, and filming begins today. They plan on completing a scene where a stuntman jumps from a bridge onto a tank car within a moving train. They should take the entire day with filming the four planned takes for this scene.

Tomorrow, they plan on filming the entire scene where the actor is transported on the freight train to the next LIRR station.

On another subject, we will approach the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway about acquisition of the railroad. In doing this, we are taking a gamble with the success of the railway due to the recent tragedy in Lac-Megantic which took place on their tracks; however, this accident is the very reason we are approaching them, as we anticipate devaluation of the railroad and desire for new management from customers and the general public.
Now don't develop too much of a monopoly... :lol:
Connor

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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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If I was a real railroad investor I wouldn't go anywhere near the MM&A because if you buy this line, you inherit their liability and will be on the hook for all the lawsuits that are going to be filed after the wreck. But hey, this is the fictional world of paper railroads and you can choose to ignore this fact and do whatever you want, I'm just stating its not something I would do, real or fictional.
Chris Howe
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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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conrailman75 wrote:If I was a real railroad investor I wouldn't go anywhere near the MM&A because if you buy this line, you inherit their liability and will be on the hook for all the lawsuits that are going to be filed after the wreck. But hey, this is the fictional world of paper railroads and you can choose to ignore this fact and do whatever you want, I'm just stating its not something I would do, real or fictional.
We would only begin negotiations after the investigations are finished, lawsuits (and maybe charges) are completed, etc. We do recognize the risk of taking on this venture, but we constantly check ourselves to make sure we are doing the right thing. There is still a possibility we will back out and leave them to their own fate if things get really bad because of the wreck...

59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC

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I know it's been a while, but I have some great news:

Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC, is reorganizing and incorporating. The State of Michigan has approved of the incorporation. We have put our rail holdings under Great Lakes Rail Holdings, Inc., and we will be forming new subsidiaries as we expand into other forms of transportation in the Great Lakes Region.

We are already set to begin our second of three planned phases of expansion, and we will begin by purchasing the Adrian and Blissfield Railroad Company, which is a small Westland, MI-based railroad holding company that owns several shortline railroads in Southeastern Michigan, including the one that operates between its namesake cities. We are proud to take them on in our family of railroads, and we will continue their tradition of great service.

We are carefully watching other transportation companies in the Great Lakes area, including the Algoma Central Corporation (not to be confused with the Algoma Central Railroad), Same Day Delivery, Inc. (a regional shipping company based in Grand Rapids), and the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad Company, based in Port Clinton, PA.

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