FINANCE DOCKET No. 9987 BANGOR & AROOSTOOK RAILROAD COMPANY ABANDONMENT Submitted June 22, 1933. Decided July 14, 1933 Certificate issued permitting abandonment by the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad Company of a portion of its line of railroad in Penobscot County, Maine. Henry J. Hart for applicant. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION DIVISION 4, COMMISSIONERS MEYER, BRAINERD, AND MAHAFFIE BY DIVISION 4: The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company on May 12, 1933, applied for permission to abandon a portion of its line of railroad extending northwesterly from a connection with the tracks of the Maine Central Railroad Company at Oldtown to a point 2,920 feet southeast of a point at South Lagrange where the applicant's Oldtown-Derby line crosses its Northern Maine Junction-Packards line, the portion to be abandoned, hereinafter sometimes called the line, being approximately 15 miles in length, all in Penobscot County, Maine. An objection was filed to the application but later withdrawn upon the agreement of the applicant not to increase rates to certain industries in the Oldtown area unless required to do so by governmental authority. No representations have been made by any State authority. The line was constructed in 1868-1869, leased by the applicant in 1892, and acquired by it in 1899. Oldtown has 7,266 inhabitants. Lagrange, which includes South Lagrange, has 468. The only incorporated place on the line between these points is Alton, population 209, which is 8.4 miles by improved highway from the Maine Central at Oldtown. There is also a station known as Pea Cove, which is located in a settlement of about half a dozen houses within the limits of Oldtown and is 4.5 miles by improved highway from the Maine Central station. The tributary area, except the city of Oldtown, is sparsely settled. There are no industries and the only pursuits are farming in a small way and the cutting of pulpwood. Oldtown is an industrial city in which is located a pulp mill, a paper mill, a woolen mill, and other small industries, all served by the Maine Central. The only industry now located on the line is a canoe factory at Veazie Siding, Oldtown, which has been long established, but has originated no business at this siding during the past five years and received but three cars of lumber in 1931 and one in 1932. This industry is located less than 0.25 mile from an available siding of the Maine Central. Tonnage handled by the line, principally pulpwood, declined from 51,227 tons in 1928 to 15,398 in 1931 and 4,720 in 1932. Stated in order for each of the five years, 1928-1932, the applicant's net income was $983,077, $1,398,433, $1,557,762, $623,133, $701,493, and was $761,530 for the first four months of 1933. With freight revenues allocated on a mileage basis, the income account of the line between Oldtown and South Lagrange, stated in order for the five years, 1928-1932, was, revenues, $29,090, $21,101, $14,264, $7,284, $2,830, operating expenses, taxes, and joint-facility rentals, $43,319, $40,597, $35,362, $32,574, $25,480, net railway operating income (deficit), $14,229, $19,496, $21,098, $25,290, $22,650, representing an average annual deficit of $20,552. With 40 percent of system freight earnings on such traffic allocated to the line, the net railway operating income would have been $12,957 and $2,165 for 1928 and 1929, with deficits of $6,516, $16,376, and $18,465, respectively, for 1930, 1931, and 1932. A careful survey of the situation has led to the conclusion that there will be no return of traffic to the line. Practically everything now produced or received is handled by motor truck over the improved highway which parallels the line. Pulpwood, the most important product, formerly went by rail to mills at Oldtown, but is now handled by trucks and, it is confidently asserted, will be so handled in future. Possible operation of the line or any part of it by the Maine Central has been discussed with that company. It is stated, however, that the traffic to or from the sidings in Oldtown or any other point on the line is so small that the cost of operation would exceed any possible revenue to be derived therefrom and practically all business can be handled by the Maine Central with the facilities now owned and operated by it at Oldtown. The applicant, however, proposes to sell or lease to the Maine Central approximately 300 feet of main-line track at the east end of the line which is now jointly used by that company. The applicant has a siding which serves a warehouse and is a continuation across Water Street, Oldtown, of a public delivery track of the Maine Central. The applicant will offer to sell or lease this siding to the owner of the warehouse, the Maine Central having indicated that it does not desire to purchase but is willing to make delivery on the siding. Following abandonment of the line the applicant's traffic to or from Oldtown will be handled as heretofore, except that the point of interchange will be Northern Maine Junction instead of Oldtown, and one or two industries which now can receive sidetrack delivery will have to truck their commodities from one fourth to one half mile to or from Maine Central facilities. It is the purpose of the applicant to make no change in rates to or from Oldtown area because of the increased haul via Northern Maine Junction. It is clear from the record that the proposed abandonment will not result in serious public inconvenience; neither the present nor prospective volume of traffic is sufficient to warrant the operation of the line, and it is evident that continued operation thereof would impose an unjustifiable burden upon interstate commerce. We find that the present and future public convenience and necessity permit the abandonment by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company of that portion of its line of railroad in Ponobscot County, Maine, described in the application. An appropriate certificate will be issued. Such certificate will provide that it shall take effect and be in force from and after 30 days from its date. Suitable provision will be made therein for the cancelation of tariffs. 193 I.C.C. FINANCE DOCKET No. 10035 BELLEVUE & CASCADE RAILROAD COMPANY Submitted July 11, 1933. Decided July 17, 1933 Certificate issued authorizing the Bellevue & Cascade Railroad Company to acquire and operate a narrow-gage line of railroad of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company in Jackson and Dubuque Counties, Iowa. O. W. Dynes for applicant. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION DIVISION 4, COMMISSIONERS MEYER, BRAINERD, AND MAHAFFIE BY DIVISION 4: The Bellevue and Cascade Railroad Company, on June 15, 1933, applied for authority to acquire and operate a narrow-gage line of railroad now owned by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company, hereinafter sometimes called the St. Paul, extending from Bellevue to the terminus of the railroad at Cascade, 35.5 miles, all in Jackson and Dubuque Counties, Iowa. Petitions signed by numerous citizens and shippers in the territory were filed, asking that the application be granted. The Governor and commerce counsel of Iowa advise that the State does not desire to oppose the application. No objection to the application has been offered. The applicant was incorporated under the laws of Iowa on June 9, 1933. It is authorized to issue 5,000 shares of common stock of the par value of $1 each, and 2,500 shares of preferred stock of the par value of $10 each. Three shares of common stock have been issued to qualify directors, but no further stock will be issued without our authorization. By our certificate of March 8, 1933, in Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. Abandonment, 189 I.C.C. 639, we permitted the St. Paul to abandon the line of railroad in question. In order to afford an opportunity to develop plans for substitute service, our certificate provided that it shall take effect and be in force from and after 90 days from its date. In our report in that proceeding are stated the physical characteristics of the railroad and equipment; the nature of the tributary territory and the population and industries therein; the volume of traffic handled in recent years, etc., which will not be here repeated. We said: No effort has been made to dispose of the branch for continued operation; but the applicant would be willing to dispose of it and its equipment at salvage value to any responsible party who would undertake to operate it under reasonable divisions of the through revenues. Under an agreement dated June 30, 1933, between the St. Paul and the applicant, a copy of which is filed in the record, the St. Paul agrees to sell, and the applicant agrees to purchase, subject to our approval, the railroad herein sought to be acquired, together with equipment and all appurtenant property pertaining to the railroad, for the sum of $18,000, payable in 120 equal monthly installments of $150, with interest at the rate of 5 percent per annum on the whole sum remaining from time to time unpaid, the first installment to be due and payable August 1, 1933; but the applicant, at its option, may complete the entire payment at any time during the life of the agreement. In case of the failure of the applicant to make the agreed payments, or any part thereof, or should it abandon operation of the railroad within 18 months from the effective date of the agreement, which shall be the date we grant the proposed acquisition, the St. Paul may, at its option, cancel the agreement, and the property shall thereupon revert to the St. Paul, which shall have the right to reenter and take possession of it, but shall refund to the applicant all payments theretofore made. The St. Paul covenants that upon the complete payment of the purchase price, it will convey to the applicant, its successors, and assigns forever, all the right, title, interest, claim, and demand whatsoever of the St. Paul in and to said property, and that when the purchase price is paid in full it will request the respective trustees under existing mortgages covering the property, to execute and deliver releases releasing the property from the liens of such mortgages. It is provided that the applicant will operate the railroad as a common carrier of freight and express only. The applicant is to pay all taxes and assessments against the property, and keep the property in as good condition as it is at the effective date of the agreement until the purchase price shall have been fully paid. It is mutually agreed by the parties that the divisions of rates on freight traffic interchanged between them shall be in accordance with division sheets heretofore agreed to by them, subject however to such changes as may from time to time be required by law or by order or decree of any authority having jurisdiction thereover. There are certain other provisions not herein enumerated. The applicant estimates that for the first year of operation it will handle 20,000 tons of freight, and that there will be a gradual |