Keweenaw Northern Railroad Company

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Saturnalia
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Keweenaw Northern Railroad Company

Unread post by Saturnalia »

August 23, 2006 CALUMET MICHIGAN

The State of Michigan is about to get another railroad.

Following the recent trend of large railroad selling out branchlines to smaller, more nimble railroad operators, today Canadian National's regional subsidiary announced that approximately 80 miles of mainline track, and several dozen more miles of trackage rights and other branch lines, are to be sold to the new Keweenaw Northern Railroad Company.

The sale, for an undisclosed sum of cash, will create a new Class III railroad, servicing the communities of Calumet and Humboldt, and all points in between. Today's resurgent forestry industry, minerals extraction, and other industry is expected to make up the primary freight obligations of the new railroad, based in Houghton, MI.

Pending Surface Transportation Board approval, the rails are expected to be handed over to the new operator on January 1st, 2007.

Additionally, the new railroad will join another Michigan railroad in an exclusive class of employee-ownership. The MQT, formed about a year ago, runs along former CSXT rails north of Grand Rapids, another Class I spin-off in this state.

Currently, the to-be KNRC originates about 6500 carloads per year, as part of the combined Canadian National/Wisconsin Central System.

The Daily Mining Gazette is awaiting comment from both WC/CN and the KNRC on this matter. We'll report further when we have the information to do so.


Published 8-23-06 in Houghton, MI




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Disclaimer: this thread is fiction in its entirety. Don't make yourself a fool by thinking this is real. Additionally, this thread is not the work of the DMG, I'm merely using it as a realistic source of Keweenaw News.

*Note: in this scenario, I have chosen to un-abandon the tracks from Baraga to Calumet, and Houghton to Lake Linden. All other pieces of the pie are as-is in real life, unless stated to be otherwise.
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AARR
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Re: Keweenaw Northern Railroad Company

Unread post by AARR »

I'm following your thread :)
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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Saturnalia
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Re: Keweenaw Northern Railroad Company

Unread post by Saturnalia »

The KNRC will commence operations on Jan 1, 2007, and has received approval from the STB for its motions before the board.

Along the 80-mile mainline and 9-mile Lake Linden Branch, the KNRC will begin operations with the following customers:

- Calumet Timber Co, Calumet ----- ships ~1500 loaded pulpwood flats per year
- Keweenaw Aggregate, Hancock ----- ships ~750 stone hoppers inbound per year
- Ripley Scrap Metals, Hancock [LKL Branch] ----- ships ~500 scrap gons per year
- Northern Michigan Petroleum, Dollar Bay [LKL Branch] ----- receives ~150 tanks cars per year
- Massie Mfg, Baraga ----- ships ~250 boxes per year
- L'Anse Pulpwood Loadout, L'Anse ----- ships ~1800 loaded pulpwood flats per year
- Bovine Soft Timber, Bovine ----- ships ~1350 loaded pulpwood flats per year

The company says that it is looking at several new customers which my be prodded into rail service, but is not willing to release their prospects just yet. They hope to increase traffic from about 6500 cars annually to 10,000 over the next 5 years.

11-5-06, Houghton, MI
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