Caprail I, Inc. Panhandle Rail Line Archives
In the late 1980s the former Consolidated Rail Corp., acting on policies developed by predecessors Pennsylvania RR Co. and Penn Central Transportation Co., proposed to abandon and liquidate portions of their former subsidiary Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rwy. "Panhandle" route between Pittsburgh-St. Louis, with major branches to Cincinnati and Chicago, to consolidate traffic onto its Pittsburgh-Ft. Wayne-Chicago and Pittsburgh-Cleveland lines, or leave traffic to CSX's Pittsburgh-Columbus route, Norfolk Southern's (now Wheeling & Lake Erie Rwy's) Pittsburgh-Bellevue route, or for I-70. In 1992, an academic and grassroots effort, including the Ohio Rail Development Commission (an independent agency of the Ohio Department of Transportation) acted to save the Line by convincing Caprail I., Inc., a bank subsidiary of Civic Finance Associates, Inc. of Bryn Mawr, PA (http://www.cfainc.net/) created in Ohio, to purchase and lease-to-own it to ORDC for 20 years. The East Ohio rail segment between Gould (south of Steubenville) and Newark, OH was one of the few if only successful rescue efforts of a major line segment in the U.S.
Documents:
Agreements-
Conrail-Caprail I Conveyance 4-16-1992 (657-226.pdf) 5.321MB
Caprail-ODOT Lease Agreement 4-15-1992 (Caprail-ODOT Lease Agreement 4-15-1992.pdf) 3.117MB
Caprail-ODOT Lease Agreement 12-18-1991 (Caprail-ODOT Lease Agreement 12-18-1991.pdf) 3.470MB
Resolutions-
Tuscarawas County, OH Board of Commissioners resolution 074-92 granting Caprail I, Inc. a three year tax exemption (TCC 074-92 2-13-1992.pdf) 46KB
Ohio Rail Development Commission Archives
East Ohio Panhandle Rail Line Anti-Privatization Proposal
Panhandle Rail Line Anti-Abandonment Project
of this page; updated
12-20-2007