RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line

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RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021 Published May 08. 2021 06:59AM BY AMY MILLER AMILLER@TNONLINE.COM Andy Muller has big plans for his new rail line in Carbon County. On Thursday, the owner and CEO of Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad outlined some of his plans for the new portion of line, which runs from Packerton Yards to Haucks Junction in Schuylkill County. Muller entered into an agreement of sale with Carbon County Thursday morning. He purchased the 19.5-mile Panther Valley line for $4.7 million in cash and in-kind services. The biggest changes will be seen in Jim Thorpe. “Some people love New York,” Muller said. “I love Jim Thorpe.” Muller said that he and his wife have been coming to Jim Thorpe since 1983 and have fallen in love with the picturesque Victorian town. “It’s an amazing place and you are very lucky,” he told the board of commissioners. “The railroad is very fortunate to be part of it, because the railroad can only succeed if the local economy succeeds and it can only carry people if people come to visit.” Over the next year, residents and visitors alike will see some changes and improvements to the line as a whole, as well as the main area in Jim Thorpe. Muller said that he is hoping to get track speed for freight trains up to 40 mph, from the current speed of 25. To accomplish this, his crews will install over 70,000 feet of new rail along the line. He will also improve the current county parking lot entrance and pedestrian crossing, as well as install a second pedestrian crossing near the new pedestrian bridge and construct a tower at the main entrance to the county lot. “We are going to put between $4 and $5 million into this railroad,” Muller said, noting that the railroad needs about $11 million in work and he plans to invest heavily in this new portion. “We’re committed to spending that so you will have a first class main line coming through Carbon County. Then it will be up to the local people and railroad to work together to get some industrial development.” Muller also noted that Carbon County has something a lot of counties want and that is tourism. “It’s going to be amazing what Jim Thorpe is going to achieve in the future,” he said, but one problem still remains, parking. Muller hopes to work with the borough and county to try an solve that issue and even eluded to the potential the former Packerton Yards site has for a secondary location. “You’re going to see a lot of things happening,” he told the commissioners. “We’re just thrilled that now that we own the railroad we can put all this money into it.” Another new venture the railroad is hoping to begin is passenger excursions from the Wilkes-Barre area to Jim Thorpe on weekends since Muller recently purchased a new stock of passenger coaches from a bankruptcy sale in Colorado. (emphasis mine) “I have a lot of exciting things I want to do,” he said. “I love trains, I love railroading. This is what I love to do and so this partnership with the county will just be a lot better. “There is so much potential here.” (end) Haucks is now just a switch in the woods...the ex-Reading to Tamaqua and the NS connection at Reading curves off to the left: The ex-Jersey Central route includes the big bridge at Hometown: Plus all the former CNJ/Conrail property in the Jim Thorpe area below Nesquehoning Junction: Look for land like this between the junction and Jim Thorpe station to get a significant makeover:
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by TransitChuckG* on Sat May 8 16:09:53 2021, in response to RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021.* Nice! Kudos!!!!
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by nasadowsk* on Sun May 9 08:32:14 2021, in response to RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021.* “Some people love New York,” Muller said. “I love Jim Thorpe.” Awkward ;)
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by Olog-hai* on Sun May 9 12:42:08 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by nasadowsk on Sun May 9 08:32:14 2021.* The love that dare not speak its name?
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Re: RBMN Buys Mauch Chunk Line
Posted by Train Dude* on Sun May 9 12:53:43 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by Olog-hai on Sun May 9 12:42:08 2021.* Subject line corrected for no real reason.
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by kp5308* on Sun May 9 20:55:30 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by nasadowsk on Sun May 9 08:32:14 2021.* Never even thought of it that way :)
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by MainR3664* on Mon May 10 08:58:11 2021, in response to RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021.* My wife and I and another couple rode this line in 2019, and saw a Rolling stones tribute concert. It was a lot of fun!!
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by Jersey Mike* on Mon May 10 11:24:37 2021, in response to RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021.* We were just a quarter mile away from Haucks on our road trip last year. Probably should have walked out there.
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by Jersey Mike* on Mon May 10 11:25:50 2021, in response to RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Sat May 8 15:03:52 2021.* BTW, I thought RBMN already owned that line...
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by kp5308* on Mon May 10 20:17:08 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by Jersey Mike on Mon May 10 11:24:37 2021.* Where I want to walk to is the famous High Bridge vantage point:
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by kp5308* on Mon May 10 20:43:56 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by Jersey Mike on Mon May 10 11:25:50 2021.* Here is an article from 2016 that will answer your question(s): On Tuesday, members of the (Carbon) County railroad commission discussed at length the possibility of putting the Panther Valley Rail Line, a nearly 20-mile line that runs from near Packerton in Carbon to near the Hometown High Bridge in Schuylkill County, up for sale. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, which operates the line under the management of Carbon and Schuylkill Railroad, verbally offered to purchase it, as well as the former Packerton Yards property for a combined $1.3 million. The motion in front of the commission was to authorize procurement of a proposal for professional land surveying services of all county railroad property. The motion passed 3-1 with Commissioner William O’Gurek casting the sole “no” vote. Commissioners Wayne Nothstein and Thomas J. Gerhard, and charter member Richard Forgay, who was part of the purchase of the rail line in 1981, voted in favor of the proposal.O’Gurek voiced concerns about selling the rail line, saying it is making money for the county through a track usage agreement with Carbon and Schuylkill Railroad.Gerhard said that the county receives 2 percent revenue from all freight shipped over this portion of the line annually. “I look at the treasurer’s report and see $200,000, and I see we are generating revenue from it,” O’Gurek said. “I am just wondering why we want to sell a resource that is not costing us a dime.”He said the county spent upward of $20,000 on KL Gates to sort out the continuing management issues of the line, in 2014 then stopped the process last year; and is looking to spend thousands on the survey. “At the end of the day, if we sell that railroad, in my mind, we would just be giving up a valuable resource,” O’Gurek said. Nothstein said he understood O’Gurek’s concerns but said it comes down to liability and years of arguing about who manages what.“I think it is a huge liability to the county if something were to happen on the rail line as being a part owner,” Nothstein said. “We don’t know what it’s worth or if it is worth selling. Part of the agreement of getting the survey would help determine where the property lines are (to help sort things out).“We’re not making any money,” he added. “Whatever comes in, goes back into the railroad.”O’Gurek said that was not the case by the treasurer’s report. “But what happens if we have to replace even 1 mile of rail?” Nothstein asked. “Is that $200,000 going to cover the track to replace the rail? Looking at this, my feelings and the liability issue is are we going to be stuck paying out of taxpayer dollars if we have to replace line for operation of the railroad? “I think it is a huge liability and it could cost us a lot of money should we need major repairs. ”O’Gurek said the county has lived with that liability for the past 35 years and the line couldn’t be that bad since Reading and Northern has reported banner years on both freight and passenger services and expects to continue increasing its service over that line. He also said if the county sells the rail line, per the original agreement negotiated decades ago, Lansford would receive 25 percent of the sale. Therefore, $250,000 of the $1 million offer would not stay in the county’s possession. The remaining 75 percent would be required to be put into a restricted fund able to be used only for economic development within the county. Gerhard said he agreed with Nothstein and Forgay, who stayed quiet during the meeting but voiced his desire to sell in the past. “I think we move forward, get it surveyed and go from there,” he said. The commission will now wait to see if it receives a proposal for land surveying services. According to articles published on Oct. 1, 1981, Carbon County became the first county in Pennsylvania to own a railroad after the Carbon County Railroad Commission finalized the purchase of the Nesquehoning line, a line that had been in jeopardy since 1976 after Conrail was formed from seven bankrupt railroads. The purchase allowed businesses that utilized the line to remain operational after many threatened to close up shop and move. The county purchased the line for $991,500 with federal grants and assumed full control on Sept. 30, 1981.The commission hired Carbon and Schuylkill Railroad in 1990 to manage the line’s operations. The county has been trying to sell Packerton Yards for more than a year. In addition to the freight service there was the idea of letting George Hart lease the scenic line for excursions from Jim Thorpe.
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Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line
Posted by 3-9* on Wed May 12 07:57:05 2021, in response to Re: RBMN Buys Jim Thorpe Line, posted by kp5308 on Mon May 10 20:43:56 2021.* That was rather forward thinking to buy the railroad that Conrail was trying to get rid of. How often has that happened?
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