Re: NNG: SLRG sale bids now accepted: first bid is $7.5 million

My understanding (based on the Trains news article) is that the $7.5M opening bid has as condition that the trustee begin abandonment procedures of everything west of Monte Vista to South Fork before the sale closes. There hasn't been any business other than car storage out there in close to two decades, so that track may be toast no matter who winds up with the rest of the system. On the other hand, car storage is decent money so I'm not quite sure of the motivation on that one.

I think the other big loser is going to be much of the equipment stored in Alamosa. The guys who repo'd it (SDCX) have a lot of it listed on Ozark, but nothing seems to sell or move and I'm sure whoever buys the property is either going to want it gone or start collecting car storage payments. Given we're coming out of a very rough year for tourist railroads, the market for private cars has evaporated, and the market for vintage power like those four inoperative F-units or the ex-ARR P30 power car is very small anyway, my cloudy crystal ball doesn't see a lot of great outcomes. I suspect many - particularly those that aren't interchange-ready - will go to bidders that bring a small amount of cash and a plentiful supply of acetylene.