I was just reading an email from a midwestern railfan. He wrote of reading where KCS was going to buy the Iowa Interstate. I did some searching, and cannot find the slightest mention of such an idea. Has anyone else heard such a rumor???
Hadn't read this, but last fall, KCS itself rejected a $20 Billion offer by Blackstone Group and others to take the road private. Perhaps KCS might buy a railroad like Iowa Iowa Interstate to add debt and make themselves less attractive as a takeover target. The IC might have had this in mind when it bought the Chicago Central & Pacific in 1996, after selling it off in the mid-1980s. In any case, the railfan rumor mill is always rife with tales of intrigue, most of it unsupported. Even some Internet sites offering financial "insight" are suspect with their "crowdsourced" analysis.
I also saw that earlier this morning. That would be interesting, but I have seen no other corroboration online. I have always been a fan of the Iowa Interstate, since they took over the Rock Island east-west main line through Des Moines. Great memories of ex-IC locomotives with patch paint jobs when they were first getting started. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't KCS put in a bid (unsuccessful, alas) for the Rock Island "spine line" from KC to MPLS after the Rock Island shutdown? Or, was that the Soo Line?
It may be that a KCS powered train, which I have learned recently ran through on a part of the IAIS, has set the rumor mill running. If so, someone does not understand modern railroading- that foreign power can show up just about anywhere these days. BNSF trains roll across Montana numerous times daily, via Montana Rail Link. But BNSF is NOT buying MRL. In fact they cannot, but that is for another topic....
For a while now, KCS has been walking a tight rope to maintain just enough debt to be unattractive to a buyout from some other railroad but still be able to service that debt.
That's who it was, indeed. Thank you for following up. I just couldn't remember who was bidding against C&NW for that segment. Interesting, and a topic for another post, how the Union Pacific ended up with so much former Rock Island trackage that was denied in the initial merger proposal.
After a decade of review, the ICC did eventually allow the UP to acquire the Rock Island, but the lengthy time frame brought deepened ruin to the Rock and the UP was no longer interested in it.
Railroad Development Corp. in partnership with iCon Infrastructure is acquiring 40% of Iowa Interstate Railroad. https://www.progressiverailroading....s-interest-in-Iowa-Interstate-Railroad--62354
The track you are thinking about was acquired by the St. Louis Southwestern (SP). When SP (and family) fell underneath UP colors, that is how UP acquired the ex-RI track.
I heard that Union Pacific wants to acquire KCS. They said it was in their budget, and they could do it without making a dent in their bank.
There is a Wall Street pundit who was pushing this scenario. But nothing is happening. https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wi...ern-suitors-have-invested-in-railroads-before https://www.railwayage.com/news/kcs-isnt-for-sale-quit-salivating/ https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/26/jim...-pacific-to-acquire-kansas-city-southern.html
Huh thanks. A friend told me that, and I took it with no research. I figured it was an idea of their's
I hope UP doesn't purchase KCS. I like seeing Southern Belle GPs in the Gulfport engine terminal and coming through Saucier twice a day. BTW, we occasionally see a Gray Ghost come through Saucier. I think this what y'all are calling a "Gray Ghost". Though it may be this that I saw delivering a transformer to MS Power after Hurricane Katrina.
I think the KCS system complements BNSF more than UP, though I shudder to think what a merger would do to management, philosophy and most of all the operating agreements.
That SD looks more like the old dirty white scheme. I believe the "gray ghosts" are actually painted a gray color.