By WILL KANGAS
March 9, 2012
MASON — For many years you could set your clock to when trains would pass through downtown Mason.
“There was one in the morning and one in the late afternoon every day for the longest time,” Mason City Manager Matrin Colburn said. “So we didn’t know what to expect when the new company took over.”
Enter The Jackson/Lansing Railroad Company, a local firm that bought the line about a year and a half ago from former owners Norfolk Southern, which was thinking of abandoning it.
“With the problems General Motors was having as well as other automotive-based companies at the time Norfolk believed it wasn’t worth it,” said Jackson/Lansing Railroad President Mark Dobronski. “But we felt there was an opportunity here.”
The company owns six engines, 52 employees and transports automotive materials and some paper products between Jackson and Lansing, Debronski said. One of those customers is RSDC of Holt, which provides steel for the auto industry.
The company is a subsidiary of national corporation Adrian Blissfield. Dobronski said the company is planning to build an engine house on its property off East North Street next to the tracks. Dobronski said the house will cost about $300,000.
And so when the trains stopped coming at those regular times, residents began to notice and question what was going on.
But city planner David Heywood said he thought it was interesting that residents were wondering about the trains because employees of the city told him the frequency of trains have increased.“The city hall sits right next to the tracks,” Heywood said. “So we know when a train comes through, and it seems like there have been more.”
Dobronski said confusion may be created by the trains come through at different times, mostly at night, as compared to years past. He said his company makes trips north and south on a regular basis throughout the day. He said on a daily basis, a train should pass through or stop and start from Mason at least eight times based on the current schedule.
“We are doing well and look forward to helping with the state’s economy by moving these materials to important businesses,” he said.
He said it costs $100,000 to fill up a train engine with diesel fuel.
“We give new meaning to the term ‘pain at the pump.’”
But Dobronski said his company favors Mason and is looking forward to breaking ground on the new engine house in April.
“We like Mason and feel the city is an important part of our company’s plans for the future,” he said. “It is positioned perfectly between customers north and south.”
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