Alternate bidder to move ahead after auction winner misses down payment
By Tim Rowland
Revolution Rail, a North Creek rail-biking company, will purchase the defunct Saratoga and North Creek Railway for $2.7 million under an agreement filed with a federal bankruptcy court in Denver.
The filing is the latest twist in the curious saga of the Tahawus Line, a lonesome, 30-mile spur to an old titanium mine in the Town of Newcomb near the popular Upper Works trailhead to the southern High Peaks.
Barring another unusual development, it also ends a brief foray into the railroad business by a New Mexico couple operating as Doc N Duchess Railway LLC. They had announced a multi-million-dollar plan to run freight and passenger service on the line while reviving the long-gone titanium operation.
Court trustee William Brandt Jr. said the focus shifted from Doc N Duchess to Revolution Rail this month after the couple, John and Carol McLean Wright, failed to produce a required down payment on the railroad’s assets after winning an auction for them in March.
The railroad was built during World War II by a U.S. government desperate for titanium. The mine itself was owned by National Lead Co., which shut down operations at Tahawus 40 years ago. Since then, the railroad has withered, making headlines only when carriers failed to make a go of it, or, as happened in 2018, it gained notoriety when the owner parked oil tankers on the line, which for a third of its length runs through the Adirondack Forest Preserve.
Many conservation and recreational advocates felt the line would be best used as a rail trail, but local governments held fast to the idea that it could once again become commercially viable.
Briefly, it seemed that would be the case. The Wrights’ winning bid was $3.3 million, far more than onlookers thought the line was worth. They had also announced plans to buy the old Tahawus titanium mine and a fleet of rolling stock — including a steam engine that ran on restaurant grease — that would revive the titanium trade. They proposed harvesting other rare metals and running excursion passenger trains.
Brandt said it is not clear whether the Wrights ever had the needed financing.
“I must say there are now a number of questions on many people’s part as to whether the Wrights were ever really capable of doing what they claimed,” Brandt said in an email.
The Wrights previously said their investors are European and have been unable to move funds in a timely fashion due to Russia’s war with Ukraine and the scrutiny now afforded to large asset transfers. They also said they were caught unaware when told they would have to produce a down payment in excess of the $35,000.
Brandt disputed that, saying that the three bidders had been informed that additional capital would be required. “When the bidding reached approximately $2.8 million,” the filing states, “the Plan Administrator paused the auction to inform the bidders that given the fact that the amounts had risen significantly and materially above the original (baseline) bid, at the conclusion of the auction, the Plan Administrator would require the successful bidder to significantly ‘upscale’ their deposit …”
On March 11, Brandt and the Wrights agreed on an additional $250,000 deposit, according to court papers.
Shortly later, Doc N Duchess asked for and received an extension until April 1, provided the amount of the deposit was $500,000.
According to court documents, Doc N Duchess missed that deadline and failed to file ”the requisite paperwork with the Surface Transportation Board requesting regulatory approval of their purchase and assumption of Saratoga and North Creek Railway’s common carrier status.”
As the days went by, Brandt said he was still prepared to work with Doc N Duchess if their financing materialized, but that never happened.
Owners of Revolution Rail could not be immediately reached, but Brandt said they had met conditions of the sale, which included a $475,000 deposit and a request for carrier status from the STB. The organization in the past has said it would like to initiate a northern version of its popular North Creek rail biking enterprise, and will contract with a short-line hauler to run occasional freight from the Tahawus mine, which currently transports loads of gravel and other aggregate by truck.
Rail biking allows seated riders to pedal bike-like machines on rails.
In his court filing, Brandt acknowledged that the high selling price remained a potential obstacle to closure, but noted that the other option was to wipe the slate clean and rerun the auction. Since Doc N Duchess would be unlikely to qualify, and the third participant in the auction, Sierra Railway, had dropped out at the $2 million mark, creditors of the railway would recoup less of what they are owed, were the auction to be held again.
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Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors!! Pass the popcorn, please. All of them waiting for NYS taxpayers to be put on the hook.
Yeah , just like the world class rail trail from Plscid to Tupper Lake!
Will there be a guarantee that Revolution Rail will restore and keep the line maintained up to necessary freight or passenger standards? Or is this just going to squeeze the last few bucks out of the line before it is condemned?
While this is a creative and fun form of exercise, you can see from the rudimentary design of the rail cars that a minimal effort was made at the lowest cost possible, and that the cars have no historic relevance to the Adirondacks. The Swiss would have provided a complete design concept for the public, added a traditional, wooden design to the cars, and offered a blanket with a pic-nick of locally produced cheese, bread, and charcuterie to ensure the permanence of the concept and to demonstrate that the lines would also be maintained.
The Americans should invite the Swiss, who excel at mountain hospitality and tourism combined with environmental preservation, to design a positive future for the Adirondacks so that a traditional balance between nature and man can be established without over-exploitation of natural resources or total abandonment of villages that are worthy of preservation.
Americans would benefit from adopting models from other countries.
Those phantom Swiss of which you speak had every option to bid during the first and then the second bankruptcy auctions.
Guess Swiss investors are more savvy than you
Perhaps savvy Swiss investors realise that America is a declining country and that their efforts would go to waste.
I prefer made in USA rail bikes. 26May I will try out Rail Explorers in the Catskills to see for myself what it is like.
I stayed open minded for the original winning bidder but Revolution Rail is hopefully the better choice anyway.
Not sure where the sense for a rail bike company carrying passengers would need to have the rail at freight standards. Not seeing much freight being carried by rail bikes.
Go Revolution Rail!
Yes, I hope they can make this work.
From northcreek to Tahawus i think its all single line, how would people be able to go both ways until line is clear from one direction? and 30 miles is sure a long way to peddle that contraption. with no restrooms. outhouses, food or water and much without even cell phone service in an emergency. bike trail i can see easily, but there would be a big need for rest rooms and at least water and vending machine at Tahawus area. Maybe a food truck but would it be cost effective or profitable?
Just seems not very feasable.
thats the last thing anyone wants to see in the Adirondacks.
let the woods be woods. I trust that they have it down to a science and that bathrooms and trash wont be an issue.
thats the big reason i am opposed to the rail trail and it condemns any potential industry outside of tourism in the ADKs
The rail pedal car excursions don’t go the entire length. You are bussed to a starting point, pedal in a group x miles to a point where you take a break and the cars are rotated to face the opposite direction, then pedal back. It’s a lot of fun! I imagine if the brought on a rail freight option, there would just be a schedule to follow…
There are already 6 rail bike locations already being feasible in NYS. There is safety accountability with rail bikes simply if a rail bike does not return, people know.
I don’t see how the rail bike operation could ever generate enough revenue to pay off the apparent selling price. Revolution Rail also says they will allow ‘occasional freight moves’ but who will pay to renovate the tracks to make that possible.
If there were some way that all those ugly tailings that one sees from Santanoni could be shipped somewhere, I would be pleased; but somehow the economics just don’t work.
And FWIW, the Marshalls in their original quest for the 46 peaks also rated the view from each peak. As of the 1920s – pre titanium mine – the view from Santanoni was mostly unspoiled wilderness, and its view was rated #2 after Haystack. Today’s ‘view rating would be lower due to all the tailings.
Thanks Tim! I don’t understand the allure of RevRail – but it is sure popular and they do a great job of customer service. John and Carol McLean Wright were in the bizzaro world from the get-go. Look up their plans for the Stony Creek Ranch (1000 acres) – out there!
The challenge of a private/public park has always been the balance between economics and ecology. Businesses like RevRail that brought over 50,000 credit card carrying visitors to the Adirondack Park just last summer, leaving nary a trace from their educational and invigorating experience, should be commended and nurtured. You go RevRail, can’t wait for trips down from Tahawus!
Are you saying RevRail alone brought those visitors to the Park? I think that is fantasy. Did tourists already here use RR as a day excursion/diversion? Seems much more likely. Would they have used a Rail Trail if it was here? Very likely.
If one wants to literally bring new visitors to the Park, start putting in casinos! NOW you are talking jobs and growth wherever you put one. Vice is very popular! Take a train from Saratoga to Newcomb, eat, drink, gamble, spend the night, and return south (bypassing the track!) when you are broke!
Better yet – put the casino on top of the mine crater! Use the crater itself for infrastructure and perhaps geothermal energy, and the casino on top. Use tailings as back fill. Minimize parking to encourage use of the trains. The “trains” would be a small fleet of battery-powered or hybrid locomotive/tractors with a few cars. Use a percentage of the profits to repair environmental mining damage to the river and surrounding area.
What would the Swiss think of that!
The Swiss would find a CASINO in a wild park to be an extremely offensive abuse of a park and of the ethic of preserving wild spaces for their inherent wilderness value.
The monetisation of a park would also be offensive. Swiss Nature protection areas charge visitors for parking and food for the purpose of preserving the nature preserve -never for the purpose of introducing a Casino! The Swiss still make money because they are NOT GREEDY- Instead, they are the most ingenious and innovative, designing new, precise, intelligent products of the highest quality that people will buy, knowing that they will last forever – the opposite of American greed mentality.
Most people would find a rail corridor in any wild area offensive. But in a country that was literally built on heavy extraction industries (much of which was shipped to Europe who already denuded their countryside of timber) we still have remnants of that industry. Question is, what makes the most sense if extraction is no longer economically feasible? The Adirondacks are not Switzerland, Germany, England, or Italy, and the needs and cultures differ dramatically. The US still has relatively cheap fuel and a heavy reliance on private automobiles. It has different needs and ideals than Europe. Not always better – just different.
It is always a good idea to consider other workable options, but just like language, may not translate across the big water.
Because of Rail Explorers alone, I am driving into the Catskill Park and will eat at the new Korean deli in Phoenicia. Because of Adirondack RR alone, I drove to Utica.
Just wait fro revrail to ask for a bailout
Whose going to maintain the rails outside of what the rail bikes are going to use? The doubt a business that small can maintain the entire line? Are they going to open it all up to snowmobile use in the winter? Are they going to allow other use of the rails (outside of what they use) in the summer? And who are they going to get to manage any other use they allow on the tracks?
There is a whole lot of biased speculating going on with a lot of the posts.
Indeed. They are just “comments” not scientific papers awaiting peer review. If they were, would this site attract as many “commenters”?
Speculating claims out of thin air, not just comments.
Still haven’t seen this question answered? Are they going to maintain the entire line or just the small chunk they will ride the rail bikes on? Plus they really don’t need to do a lot of maintenance to use the rail bikes? SO who’s going to foot the bill to keep the rest of the line in a usable shape? It’s not the states responsibility anymore, since they don’t own it? IS anyone else going to be permitted to use the unused portion of the line, or did someone just buy the entire line, to just use a portion & let the rest go to hell!
Did you ask Rail Explorers that question?