Railroad renegotiates debt, interest forgiven

WALLOWA — Wallowa Union Railroad Authority has renegotiated its debt with Oregon Economic and Community Development Department and $900,000 in interest has been forgiven, directors of the railway announced Tuesday at a meeting in Wallowa.

The authority’s debt is now locked in at $1.1 million.

Now that the $900,000 in interest has been eliminated from the total bill, the debt will be paid off in two years. WURA has recently paid the first of 24 equal payments.

“We will not be in debt when the rail storage is over,” said Mike Hayward, Wallowa County commissioner and WURA board member.

An agreement between WURA and Union Pacific was made in April to store rail cars during the recession. The agreement stated UP would pay $2.1 million over three years. UP is current in its payments.

Union and Wallowa counties bought the Joseph branch in 2002 from Idaho Northern Pacific. The line runs from Elgin to Joseph.

Initially, funding was received from a $2 million grant from the Oregon Lottery and a $5.5 million loan from the OECDD. WURA was later awarded $4.5 million in federal money to pay down the loan.

The rate of Union Pacific rail cars coming into Wallowa County for storage has slowed due to an increase in need for the rail cars, WURA officials said. The rail cars, which have been arriving since May, now total 1,143.

The McCarter family, who live along the rail line, brought a list of questions for the WURA board to address regarding the rail line. Among their questions was, “Who benefits from the rail car storage?’’

Besides paying off the loan, Wallowa County will receive personal property tax revenue for the storage, officials said. At the end of the year the value of the total number of cars stored will be assessed. After Jan. 1, 2010, the state will notify the county of that dollar amount. Each of the tax districts in the county will benefit from the tax revenue, directors said.

Another issue addressed was why the cars are only stored in Wallowa County and not in Union County. Hayward explained that decision was made partly due to the ability to run excursion/expedition trains and that much of the line between Rondowa and Big Canyon is prone to rock slides. If a rock slide occurred near the stored cars, digging them out would be extremely difficult, he said.

As for the concern that the excursion/expedition and possible freight trains that use the rail line will run in the red in the future, Hayward stressed, “Our position is that the number one priority is to preserve the infrastructure. If we cannot make a go of it after the car storage, the train may be mothballed.”

Jim Siefert, contract maintenance supervisor for the Joseph Branch Line, reported that with the increase of staff from one to three crew members, the rail line has realized a tremendous increase in repairs over the past four months. Most maintenance issues on the line include clearing rock slides, replacing railroad ties and rails, clearing vegetation from the railroad corridor and underneath the wooden trestles (a fire danger) and eliminating noxious weeds.

Repairs have been completed on one of the locomotives, which has been out of service since last winter, Siefert said. Other vital repairs include the re-plumbing of the RDCs (self-propelled train) and the Pullman passenger cars.

The plumbing has been replaced with plastic pipe, which will eliminate the issue of freezing pipes in cold weather, Siefert said. The trains are used in February and March for steelhead fishing between Minam and Rondowa.

Mark Davidson, Union County commissioner and WURA board member, reported that Winding Waters Rafting out of Joseph has concluded its “River to Rails” expeditions — one-way guided raft trips on the Wallowa River with a return train ride from Rondowa.

“River to Rails was a successful venture and we look forward to partnering with them again next summer,” Davidson said.

Janet Dodson, executive director of Union County Tourism and president of Friends of the Joseph Branch, gave reports on current use of the Eagle Cap Excursion train, marketing and volunteer efforts.

“We are not too far behind last year’s numbers,” Dodson said.

Ridership in autumn is historically higher than the summer with increases in wildlife viewing as well as fall color, she said.

Upcoming special events are the Oct. 3 dinner train featuring a menu from a 1930s Union Pacific cookbook and a possible Halloween/veterans train. Veterans ride free and all others would bring canned food to support the food bank. The date is yet to be determined for the canned food fundraiser.

The Friends of the Joseph Branch is the volunteer organization responsible for supplying engineers, conductors and other help on the excursion and expedition trains. The Friends, though enjoying a successful season, said they are in need of more volunteers for trains departing from Wallowa.