Lebanon pair buy rail line By Alex Paul Albany Democrat-Herald LEBANON - The Albany & Eastern Railroad Company will have new owners effective Aug. 1. Rick and Bernice Franklin have purchased the privately owned rail line from Mike Root, who has operated the Lebanon-based shortline system since 1998. The railroad carries lumber and plywood, grain, grass seed and wood pellets, among other items, to and from mid-valley businesses. Rick Franklin said the purchase is a natural fit for his other business, Rick Franklin Corp., which since 1974 has assisted the railroad industry with derailment repairs, rail siding repairs, extension and maintenance, rail car dismantling, rail car leasing, heavy hauling, excavation, road building, site cleanup and creating bridges from old railroad cars. “I have known Mike for many years, and two or three times I told him when he was ready to retire to call me,” Franklin said. “That time has come. The company name won’t change. All of the contract agreements and operating rights will stay in effect.” The deal is a stock purchase and includes the Albany & Eastern’s four locomotives, as well as track repairing equipment. It also includes Lebanon Reload, 105,000 square feet of outdoor space and a 24,000-square-foot warehouse. The railroad’s 15 employees will retain their jobs, Franklin said. The railroad operates on 67 miles of track, from Albany to Lebanon where it splits and goes from Lebanon to Mill City or Lebanon to Foster. Weyerhaeuser and Freres Lumber are the largest of the company’s 22 customers, Franklin said, but he sees great opportunity to expand the business. “With the opening of the new Lowe’s Distribution Center in Lebanon and the opening of Weyerhaeuser’s new Bauman Mill between Lebanon and Sweet Home in about seven months, I think we have the opportunity to grow this business.” The Albany & Eastern currently carries about 7,000 cars per year. Franklin said the addition of a railroad car scrapping business to his other business interests in the last year will add to that number. “This railroad is unique in that it’s privately owned, it’s profitable and it has interchanges with both the Burlington Northern Sante Fe and the Union Pacific. There are probably only five privately owned Class I rail lines in the country and most have interchanges with only one major rail line. This was set up years ago.” Franklin said Root successfully operated the railroad because he valued his employees and made customer service a priority. He and his wife plan to continue focusing on those values as the company begins an aggressive marketing campaign. Root, 66, said he started in the railroad business in 1959 and built his business “by working 24/7 and having good employees.” He’s decided now he wants to spend more time in Arizona, and the sale “will allow me to travel and to pursue other business interests out of state.” “Rick has wanted to buy the railroad for a long time,” Root said. “There were other competitors, but he’s local, he already has a business the railroad serves and I’ve known Rick a long time. “It’s the best thing for our shippers to have him there rather than somebody who might not look out for the shippers’ best interests.” The Root family began acquiring shortline railroads in 1980 with the purchase of the Grand Ronde division of the Longview, Portland and Northern Railway Company. Other lines were acquired, including the Burlington Northern and Sante Fe Sweet Home branch in 1998, when it was renamed the Albany & Eastern Railroad Company. Alex Paul can be reached at alex.paul@lee.net or 812-6076.
Article is in error. Albany & Eastern is not a class I. Also they interchange with the Portland & Western not UP or BNSF. Anyways....
Definitely not a Class 1. Although it's personnel may feel 1st Class? Or is this a possible confusion with track condition? Boxcab E50
