(The following story by Tom Mast appeared on the Casper Star-Tribune website on November 17.)
CASPER, Wyo. — The federal Surface Transportation Board has denied a railroad company’s request to abandon a rail link between a closed sawmill in Saratoga and the Union Pacific mainline in southern Wyoming.
Abandoning the line was opposed by Intermountain Resources Inc., which hopes to reopen the sawmill, and by Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal. The 24-mile line would be the principal means by which the company would transport lumber from the mill to market.
“It would be an understatement to say the closure of that sawmill dealt a huge blow to Saratoga’s economy,” Freudenthal said in a press release issued Tuesday. “Now there is a chance it could be reopened, and that is why the Surface Transportation Board’s agreement that the railway should not be abandoned is such good news.”
The decision by the board does not prohibit the railroad owners, the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad Co. of Ogden, Utah, from attempting to abandon the line through a more formal and time-consuming administrative process. The company’s president could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Chris Meyers, an owner of Intermountain Resources Inc. based in Montrose, Colo., said he had been advised of the decision by his attorney, and while the action did sound favorable, he had not reviewed the decision.
State officials hope reopening the mill will provide a boost to Carbon County’s economy. The mill employed about 200 people before it was closed in 2003.
The Saratoga line operates between Saratoga and Wolcott Junction. It was built and operated by the Saratoga & Encampment Railroad between 1908 and 1928. It was merged with Union Pacific in 1951. UP sold the line to Wyoming and Colorado Railroad Co. in 1987.