Mike Peterson, an auctioneer from Jamestown, N.Y., stands on one of two steam locomotives he will auction off Oct. 10 in Kane. The locomotives are part of rolling stock for the Knox & Kane Railroad to be sold at the auction. The steam locomotives and a diesel locomotive were damaged during a May fire in the engine house in near the Knox railroad depot on Biddle Street in Kane.

The sale of tracks and the pending equipment auction could signal the permanent end of a railroad tourist train from Kane to the Kinzua Bridge State Park.

The Kovalchick Corp. of Indiana, Pa. reportedly has purchased the tracks and other property held by the Knox and Kane Railroad.

From August 1987 until the end of October 2004, the railroad operated a summer and fall tourist train to the Kinzua Bridge State Park near Mt. Jewett. The tourist train initially ran on a 96-mile roundtrip route from Marienville to the bridge. The train stopped in Kane to pick up passengers.

For nearly 15 years, the tourist train crossed the 2,053-foot Kinzua Bridge. At 301 feet, the bridge at one time was the highest railroad bridge in the world.

The state closed the bridge to rail traffic in 2002 to make way for repairs. But a year later—July 21, 2003—a tornado toppled the midsection of the bridge while it was undergoing repairs.

The tourist train continued runs to the park for another year from Kane, but eventually had to suspend operations due to a steep decline in riders.

“We could only run so long,” Teri West said Wednesday in discussing the decision to terminate tourist trains from Kane to the state park. “Nothing was coming in to cover our expenses.”

West, who resides in Warren and worked aboard the tourist trains, is the daughter of Sloan Cornell. He has been the key figure with the Knox and Kane Railroad. He is in failing health, his daughter said.

According to West, the number of tourist train passengers declined by “75 percent” after the collapse of part of the bridge in 2003.

The tourist train’s passenger cars still sit idle on tracks along Biddle Street (Route 6) in Kane.

The Kovalchick Corporation, founded by Nick and Fannie Kovalchick in 1928, is involved in the scrap, salvage, recycling and railroad business. Because the company buys and sells railroad rails, railroad ties and track accessories, there is speculation that the firm will tear up the tracks and sell the rails for scrap.

But there still is a glimmer of hope that the company could again operate a railroad for tourists and possibly freight.

George Kovalchick said Wednesday that the operation of a rail line would be the company’s “first option” to pursue. However, he pointed out that costs and other factors would be taken into consideration to determine if a tourist train is “desirable.”

The Kovalchick Corporation is no stranger to the tourist train business and to the Kinzua Bridge.

The company now operates the East Broad Top Railroad, a tourist train near Orbisonia in Huntington County. George Kovalchick said there is “no chance” the company could use equipment from the East Broad Top Railroad for a Kane tourist train. He said the track gauges are different.

Kovalchick purchased the Kinzua Bridge in 1958 and sold the span to the state in 1963—the same year the Kinzua Bridge State Park was established.

According to George Kovalchick, the company purchased 75 miles of track and rights-of-way from the bridge south into Clarion County. The property purchased by Kovalchick reportedly includes the crossing gates as well as the tracks and ties and other property such as the Biddle Street depot in Kane.

Mike Peterson, an auctioneer from Jamestown, N.Y., said Wednesday that he expects to see “a reasonably large crowd” for the two-day auction of Knox and Kane Railroad equipment next month.

The auction is expected to bring in between $500,000 and $1 million for the railroad equipment.

Peterson said there has been “interest” from “all over the country” for the auction. He said Canadians also have contacted his company.

Two steam locomotives and a diesel locomotive are among the railroad pieces to be sold at the “liquidation” auction on Oct. 10 in Kane. The auction will take place on railroad property along Biddle Street beginning at 10 a.m.

The locomotives were damaged in a fire in the engine house in May. The locomotives have been pulled out of the building and are on display on the tracks near the Biddle Street depot. The depot also was damaged in a separate fire.

The auction will move to Nansen about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 10 for the sale of other equipment. Peterson said the auction Saturday, Oct. 11 in Marienville will begin at 10 a.m. and “probably” continue until late afternoon. Railroad memorabilia and small railroad items will be sold at the Marienville site.

“We expect a lot of collectors at this site,” Peterson said.

Buyers have until July 1, 2009 to remove the locomotives and rail cars, including those seen on the tracks along Biddle Street.

Because of this deadline, there is speculation that nothing major will be done by Kovalchick to prepare the route for a possible tourist train.

Some of the items to be auctioned in Kane include several box rail cars and several passenger cars. A caboose now located in Mt. Jewett also will be sold at the Kane auction.

Items on the auction block at the Nansen site include flat rail cars and about 150 pieces of rails.

The Marienville auction Oct. 11 will include oil lamps, lanterns, steam whistles, diesel horns, maps and blueprints, train schedules and timetables and various other railroad collectibles.

Peterson expects many scrap dealers to bid on the rail cars and other equipment at the Kane auction site. He believes those who buy the locomotives will try to restore them for other tourist trains or “short-line railroads.”

One of the steam locomotives to be sold was built in 1921, Peterson said. The second steam locomotive was built in China in 1989, he said. This is one of only three locomotives of this type now in the U.S. The other two are located in Newton, Iowa.

The diesel locomotive was built in the 1950s, he said.

According to Peterson, the locomotives sustained damage in the May fire at the engine house in Kane. He said a demolition contractor is razing the fire-damaged engine house.

For more information on the auction, visit the auctioneer’s Internet Website at petersonauction.com.

Debbie Lunden, director of the McKean County Planning Department, said it would be “wonderful” to see the tourist train operate again “if they don’t take up the tracks” and sell them for scrap.

Lunden, who is the secretary of the Kinzua Bridge Foundation, said she would “love to see the train run again” to the state park. “It’s a wonderful tourist asset,” she said in discussing the train and the park.

Lunden said it would be “a few years down the road” before the area could hope to see resumption of the tourist train from Kane to the state park.

According to Lunden, Forest County already is looking ahead to possible track removal operation. She said Forest County is planning to hold talks to discuss a possible “rails-to-trails” project over the railroad rights-of-way.