Potential buyer negotiating directly for purchase of Myrtle Beach area railroad

A Kentucky short line rail owner is negotiating directly with Carolina Southern Railroad to buy the Horry County line, Doug Wendel announced at a meeting of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. Wednesday morning.

Noel Rush, vice president of finance and administration of R.J. Corman Railroad Group, would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Carolina Southern owner Ken Pippin could not be reached for comment.

Wendel described Corman as a five-star company that owns 10 short line railroads in six states. In September, it acquired Texas Southeastern Railroad from Georgia-Pacific, Corman’s first venture in the Lone Star State.

Wendel said the company does its own rail construction and maintenance, which puts it in a position to move quickly on repairs needed to Carolina Southern bridges that caused it to shut down more than two years ago.

“Probably one of the more important things about R.J. Corman is they do economic development,” Wendel said.

He explained later that the company would forward names of prospects to the EDC, which would then negotiate for land and other things.

The company also runs dinner trains on some of its other lines, according to the company website, and Wendel said company officials have told him there could be holiday-themed excursion trains, such as for Halloween and around Christmas time.

But he doesn’t foresee regular excursion trains during the tourist season.

Wendel was for a time the chief conduit for the Carolina Southern sales. He helped engineer the deal that pegged the sale price at $13 million with $3 million incentive money from Horry County and Columbus County, N.C.

He said that he stepped back from the negotiations as the potential buyer and seller were down to just a few issues to resolve and it was best for them to talk directly.

Carolina Southern owns about 100 miles of track in Horry, Columbus and Marion counties. Industries it served in Horry and Columbus have made alternative transportation provisions that are more expensive than rail transportation.

Carolina Southern’s connection with CSX and into the national rail system is in Marion County.

“Hopefully we’ll have a Christmas present for the Pippins, for us and for the community,” Wendel said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2014 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Potential buyer negotiating directly for purchase of Myrtle Beach area railroad."