TAHAWAUS, N.Y. — The bankruptcy sale of a portion of the former Saratoga & North Creek Railroad is jeopardy after the buyers failed to submit a deposit in timely fashion, according to the bankruptcy trustee.
The Adirondack Explorer news site reports buyers Carol McLean-Wright and John Wright, operating as Doc N Duchess Railway, did not meet the deposit requirement. The Wrights bid $3.33 million for the 30-mile segment of the line to Tahawaus, planning to use it to ship titanium from a former mine site [see “Former Saratoga & North Creek trackage sells …,” Trains News Wire, March 4, 2022].
Bankruptcy trustee William Brandt Jr. told the Explorer in an email that he has begun negotiating with the second-highest bidder — Revolution Rail, which operates a rail-biking operation on a portion of the line — although there was a slight chance the original sale could be salvaged — “but only if they have real financing lined up.”
McLean-Wright told the news site that the company put up $35,000 to participate in the auction but was only told later that additional deposits of $250,000, and later $500,000, would be required. She said the company has European investors and that financial transfers are being delayed because of scrutiny of asset movements as a result of the war in Ukraine, and therefore sought a closing date near the end of the 90-day period to pay the full amount.
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