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Anyone heard anything about this new operation. It seems to be owned by Bucyrus Railcar Repair. They are supposed to take over the old B&O from Parkersburg, into Belpre, and up through Marietta to the Globe Metallurgical plant at Relief. I wondered when it will take over, and what their motive power will be?
Jeff

Looks like they have a handful of customers including carbon black, steel, metal dust or flyash and plastics. Looks like some potential for other business too.

Exemption notice is up on the STB site today. They will lease High Yard, the former B&O mainline Parkersburg-Belpre segment, and the Marietta Sub.

I grew up in Marietta and worked at a couple of the plants served by the railroad. It seems to me like the new shortline should have a good business base. They have the chemical plant in Belpre, the carbon black plant, the ferro alloy and chemical plants south of Marietta, the old BF Goodrich plant in Oak Grove, and the Globe plant up at Relief. They also have big welded rail from the coal hauling days, although the power plant at Relief is now gone. I remember when the whole line was rebuilt for the coal traffic, I think back in the 90's. I am really surprised someone like G&W, Corman, or Watco did not get this line. I have never heard of the company that got the line.
Jeff

Parent company owns Bucyrus Railcar which acquired the former T&OC/NYC shop facility in Bucyrus Ohio a few years ago. I believe there was an article in TRAINS regarding that operation and the family behind it. Apparently they have decided to expand into shortline operation. Hopefully they will do well and we can avoid the expenses to taxpayers of another bike path.

bbe125 wrote:Parent company owns Bucyrus Railcar which acquired the former T&OC/NYC shop facility in Bucyrus Ohio a few years ago. I believe there was an article in TRAINS regarding that operation and the family behind it. Apparently they have decided to expand into shortline operation. Hopefully they will do well and we can avoid the expenses to taxpayers of another bike path.

Yes, Cathcart Rail, LLC is the affiliated parent company of both Bucyrus Railcar Repair and this new BIPR railroad. Last year, they started their own small common carrier railroad called the Bucyrus Industrial Railroad at their Bucyrus location to potentially serve other industries connected to the shop's tracks (filing link here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... repair-llc). This would be their first venture outside of Bucyrus to my knowledge.According to local press, the owners at Cathcart have already reached out to the regional economic development folks which made them quite happy. I hope that is a sign of good things to come for Appalachian Ohio.

Found these! I think they are GP38-3's.

The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad owns the ex-B&O Marietta Sub which CSX gave to them. They also got part of the B&O main line in parts of Ohio and West Virginia

OhioSirens&Trains wrote:The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad owns the ex-B&O Marietta Sub which CSX gave to them. They also got part of the B&O main line in parts of Ohio and West Virginia

It's a lease and the specific route details are in the pdf at this link:
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... /50206.pdf

For anyone interested in catching them, it seems like if you show up at or before 5:00am at High Yard in Parkersburg, they go on duty around then.

Here's a video from my chase yesterday, to give an idea of their route. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roAHFYHnin8

Thank you for posting Pie! Nice video.

Anyone know the heritage and history of those 3 engines?

Pie39 wrote:For anyone interested in catching them, it seems like if you show up at or before 5:00am at High Yard in Parkersburg, they go on duty around then.

Here's a video from my chase yesterday, to give an idea of their route.

AARR wrote:Thank you for posting Pie! Nice video.

Anyone know the heritage and history of those 3 engines?

Pie39 wrote:For anyone interested in catching them, it seems like if you show up at or before 5:00am at High Yard in Parkersburg, they go on duty around then.

Here's a video from my chase yesterday, to give an idea of their route.

Thanks! I'd like to know the lineage as well. The third unit has a bell mounted on the long hood that screams Southern to me, so my guess is a chop-nose from NS.

I noticed the bell location on the 3rd unit and also thought possible NS heritage. They've been selling off 38-2's recently.

Pie39 wrote:

AARR wrote:Anyone know the heritage and history of those 3 engines?

Thanks! I'd like to know the lineage as well. The third unit has a bell mounted on the long hood that screams Southern to me, so my guess is a chop-nose from NS.

Thanks for the great video. That area is my old stomping ground. Grew up in Marietta, worked my way through college at Globe, then worked on engineering projects at the old UCC Electromet plant later on. Looks like a good sized train for Globe. Do you know how often they go up to Globe each week? Back in the late60's, early 70's, when I worked there, the train arrived every day, except Sunday. Sometimes it was pulled by F units, but usually by old Geeps. We used to get ore in ore cars lettered for the PRR. They had chrome or Manganese ore loaded in them and we emptied them using our American Locomotive Crane. I don't think ore comes by rail now, truck I think.
Jeff

I saw this train a couple of days ago around 12 pm coming out of Marietta towards Parkersburg. I don't know if it always returns to Pburg at that time or not. Nice surprise and it looks great going over the bridge from Belpre to Parkersburg.