When residents living on the north edge of Clarion noticed some strange activity behind their homes in the last several weeks, they were puzzled. It looked like there were repairs taking place on the railroad tracks. This seemed odd to the residents since no real rail traffic has existed for a while in that area. Soon news started to trickle down the street that those tracks would soon be in use, and it didn’t make most homeowners happy.
Whether they talked to the folks working on the tracks or heard it from their neighbors, the reason behind the repairs soon became known. Gold-Eagle Cooperative, based out of Goldfield, who owns that portion of the tracks, is planning to use the space to store empty railroad cars from other companies.
The practice of storing railcars is not uncommon across the country. With rail yards reaching capacity, it’s common for freight car owners to lease space from owners of railroad tracks, said Bill Stephens, a correspondent for Trains magazine, who has been covering the business end of the train industry since the early 1990s. “Storing cars is one way to make money with very little cost,” said Stephens.
An article from the website Railway Age pointed out how common this practice has become. The article from February of this year noted, “As much as 24% of North American railcars, 1.62 million, are currently ‘parked’ (stored).” Given the economic climate we are now residing in, one would probably guess that number is even higher today.
In fact, the difficult economic climate is precisely why management at Gold-Eagle Coop says that this move is necessary for them. General Manager of the Coop, Chris Boshart, explained in a statement that the disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused for the corn market has been abrupt and severe. He explained, “The two biggest uses of corn for our Coop are in feed and ethanol. Both of these have been adversely effected. Since we are using less corn locally, it has lowered our prices. If you look at our current price, it’s 25% less than our February values.”
Boshart says that they saw the writing on wall a couple of months ago. Gold-Eagle started to look at alternative revenue generators. These include loading corn in rail cars and paying to ship it out to other companies who need it.
This is also where the plan to store rail cars comes in. Boshart said that just like Gold-Eagle, other businesses have rail cars sitting empty due to market downturns and slowdowns. He explained the process: “We are contracting with other companies who have excess rail cars and are looking to rent temporary spots to park them until they can be put back in use.” He added that the Coop now is making repairs and has activity at seven rail sites across the company.
It sounds like a straightforward process, but it is causing a lot of consternation from Clarionites living near the tracks that Gold-Eagle owns. (Boshart noted he has gotten questions about the rail cars that on the line to the southeast of Clarion, but said those are not Gold-Eagle’s cars as they don’t own that line). Still, residents on the north side of town have concerns. This became evident last week at the City Council meeting where two residents who live on Cedar Drive came to voice their opinion.
Rich Mussman explained the effort he has put in the last twenty years keeping up the area behind his house around the track Gold-Eagle owns. He noted that between seeding the area and burning it off, it adds up to thousands of dollars. He was not pleased to learn about the railcars moving in to the area just beyond his backyard. “I have spent my own money trying to help Clarion look better. Now I have to look at iron.” Mussman also raised a number of other concerns including safety issues and declining property values.
Mussman’s neighbor Gayle Roberts echoed many of his concerns. Roberts read a lengthy prepared statement before the council, which read in part, “Personally, I have been very upset with the talk of the cars by our property.” Roberts stated she was more unhappy to learn about it from neighbors. Like Mussman, she added that she and her husband have maintained the area by the track for almost two decades, estimating that they have mowed it 360 times. “The coop paid little or no interest in taking care of their property until now,” Roberts said.
Roberts and several others down the street also pointed out what an eyesore having the rail cars will be for them and everyone who comes in and out of Clarion. Steve Terhark has lived on that edge of town for 26 years. He and his wife Katrina were both disappointed and annoyed to hear about Gold-Eagle’s plan. Steve called it “ridiculous” and added that he and his neighbors originally moved to that area because of the peace and quiet, basically country living in town. Katrina said, “It’s just not what any Iowan wants to see from their yard.”
The Terhark’s neighbors had similar opinions. Don Schroeder, who has lived in the neighborhood for 60 years being the third house built on the street, wished they would “just leave it like it was.” He, like some of the other residents, said that they were under the impression that the track area would someday be repurposed into a walking and biking path. Roberts had noted this too. “We would have purchased that land, but we thought it was set up for bike trail.”
The safety concern of having empty rail cars on the track came up with multiple people. The Terharks noted that they have curious kids so they wouldn’t be surprised if the cars became a play area for other kids. Other residents said that it might attract nuisance animals while chasing out favorable animals like deer and pheasants.
In the end though, most were not too hopeful that their complaints would be lead to much change. One homeowner on 7th Ave NE said, “It’s their land, so what can we really do about it?” Katrina Terhark added, “We get the money part, but we just wish they would find somewhere else.”
From Gold-Eagle’s perspective, Boshart said he understands the concerns. Yet he noted that he cannot predict how long they will have to utilize car storage as a revenue source. “It’s a moving target on how many [cars] and how long [they will be stored on Gold-Eagle tracks]. At one of our sites, the customer already started pulling cars back after only 45 days. Other customers state that they think their business will be depressed for months.”
Boshart also seemed hopeful that storing car might not be a permanent solution. He stated, “Once we are back to an ethanol market that is economically healthy and the livestock barns are full, everything will be back in balance. That would cause some of this activity to revert back. Nothing would make our patrons and employees more happy at this point.”
Though Clarion residents might find these hopes underwhelming, there is probably not a lot they can do about the rail car storage. As Stephens of Trains magazine points out, “For locals fighting against the storage of railcars in their backyards, it’s an uphill battle. Because railroads are a national network, economic and safety regulations are almost exclusively the domain of the federal government. There is limited authority that local entities have over rail movement.”
For their part, most city officials who voiced an opinion at last week’s meeting seemed to indicate they aren’t thrilled with the idea. Councilmember Andy Young said he would not be happy if it was his backyard either and hoped that residents and the city would work to engage in a dialog with Gold-Eagle about alternatives. Mayor Duane Asbe added, “We can’t control a business, but a dialog would be worth it.” City Administrator Clint Middleton agreed a conversation with Gold-Eagle would be worthwhile, but for now, is encouraging residents to take that step for themselves even though a public meeting was suggested.
In the end, Gold-Eagle said they do welcome such a dialog. Boshart said, “I would offer to anyone who would like to address concerns in person that I will make myself available from 2:00 to 4:00 on Thursday the 28th at the Gold-Eagle office in Clarion. I can also be reached by phone during business hours at 515-825-9637.”
It remains to be seen if residents will be happy with a simple conversation. As one homeowner pointed out, “We all need to consider each other’s interest. We’re all just trying to make a living here.”
