Terry Bibo writes an opinion column for the Journal Star, so I don’t begrudge her expressing her advocacy for converting the Kellar Branch rail line into a dedicated trail, even though I obviously disagree with her. But it does bother me when she says things like this, as if it were a fact: Even though … Continue reading Bibo gets the facts wrong on Kellar
Here’s an e-mail that Heights Mayor Allen sent to Mike Carr (CEO of Pioneer Industrial Railway), regarding Pioneer’s contention that Peoria Heights should remove Central Illinois Railroad as a carrier on the Kellar Branch: Dear Mike: Regarding your demands that we take immediate steps to “kick” CIRY off of the line: 1. We are addressing … Continue reading More correspondence between the Heights and Pioneer
The Village of Peoria Heights recently sent a threatening letter to Pioneer Industrial Railway Co. (PIRY) demanding that they fulfill all their obligations under their 1984 contract. PIRY has sent its official response to Village officials. They are happy to comply with the contract — in fact, they’ve sent along their lease payment and reports … Continue reading Pioneer argues for sole control of Kellar
You may recall that Pioneer Industrial Railway wouldn’t give their permission to the Recreational Trail Advocates (RTA) to do a “clean up” along the Kellar Branch line. It appears the RTA is going to ignore that denial. Their minutes record: H. Status of spring cleanup-David Pittman discussed the hoops had to go through to set … Continue reading RTA decides to trespass anyway
Recreational Trail Advocates requested permission for access to the Kellar Branch right of way so they could “clean up trash” along a portion of the line. They were denied: Dear David: I am writing to respond to your request for our permission to allow the RTA [Recreational Trail Advocates] to clean up trash along a … Continue reading Pioneer denies “clean up” request from RTA
The Surface Transportation Board has a message for the feuding Kellar Branch rail carriers: work out your differences or we’ll work them out for you. In a ruling released late Friday, the STB said: [W]e direct that the parties [Pioneer Industrial Railway and Central Illinois Railroad] meet, in the presence of Board staff, to negotiate … Continue reading STB orders rail carriers to get their act together by Dec. 14
After the council voted to table the Kellar Branch resolution at tonight’s meeting, I talked to Mike Carr, President of Pioneer Railcorp. I found out that Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY) has been unresponsive to Pioneer’s numerous attempts to contact them and work out an operating arrangement. In its recent decision to let Pioneer back on … Continue reading Central Illinois Railroad stonewalling Pioneer
Normally, editorials are on the Opinion page of the Journal Star, usually page A4. But they must have made an exception this morning because they put their Kellar Branch editorial on the front page. The article is framed from the perspective of a trail advocate, which is the editorial position of the newspaper. The headline … Continue reading Journal Star editorial now on front page!
I contacted Pioneer Railcorp president J. Michael Carr today to ask him about the company’s plans following the STB’s ruling today. Here are my questions and what he had to say: Q: The STB ruling mentions a pending state court case regarding your contract with the city and whether that contract has expired. Is that … Continue reading Pioneer Railcorp still willing to “cooperate with joint usage” of Kellar
The Surface Transportation Board has finally issued their ruling: The city cannot kick Pioneer Railcorp (PIRY) off the Kellar Branch. Pioneer may start serving Carver Lumber via the Kellar immediately. The STB explains their reasoning this way: Often, a line owner seeking an adverse discontinuance wishes to dispossess a tenant because the tenant has breached … Continue reading Breaking News: STB rules against City (UPDATED 5X)