Joe Kovalchick, president of Kovalchick Corp. of Indiana, Pa., sits in his car during a visit to Kane earlier this week. The company purchased the tracks, signal equipment and other property from the Knox and Kane Railroad.

This diesel engine and two steam locomotives are among numerous pieces of railroad equipment to be sold at an auction Friday morning in Kane. A large crowd is expected for the auction at the Knox and Kane Railroad property along Biddle Street (Route 6).

It now appears likely that a tourist train never will run again between Kane and the Kinzua Bridge State Park near Mt. Jewett.

Joe Kovalchick, the owner of a scrap company that has purchased the Knox and Kane Railroad tracks, said the chances of resuming the once-popular tourist train are “slim to none.”

Kovalchick visited Kane earlier this week to inspect the railroad equipment to be sold at an auction Friday in Kane and Nansen and Saturday in Marienville.

The liquidation auction begins at 10 a.m. Friday at the railroad property along Biddle Street (Route 6) in Kane. A large crowd is expected.

The auction for the railroad’s “rolling stock” continues at 2:30 p.m. Friday at a siding off Route 66 near Nansen. Enter this auction site from Hickey Road, just south of the railroad tracks on Route 66 near Nansen.

The auction moves to Marienville at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Kovalchick is the president of the Kovalchick Corp. of Indiana, Pa., which has purchased the tracks and other property held by the Knox and Kane Railroad.

Kovalchick said he is a long-time friend of Sloan Cornell, former owner of the Knox and Kane Railroad. Kovalchick said he has been “talking for years” with Cornell about the sale.

“It was a friendly business transaction,” Kovalchick said.

Kovalchick said his company isn’t interested in resuming the local tourist train, especially since a tornado five years ago toppled the midsection of the Kinzua Bridge.

“The purpose was the bridge,” Kovalchick said in discussing the highlight of the tourist train rides.

From August 1987 until the end of October 2004, the Knox and Kane Railroad operated a summer and fall tourist train to the Kinzua Bridge State Park.

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—the tornado hit and brought down 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.

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

“We could only run so long,” West said in reference to the money-losing business after the bridge fell.

West, who resides in Warren and worked aboard the tourist trains, is the daughter of Cornell. Kovalchick said Cornell now resides at the Lutheran Home in Kane.

The Kovalchick Corporation, founded by Nick and Fannie Kovalchick in 1928, is involved in the scrap, salvage, recycling and railroad business.

According to its Website on the Internet, the company buys and sells railroad rails, railroad ties and track accessories.

Because of this type of business, there is speculation that the Kovalchick company will tear up the tracks and sell the rails for scrap.

The company president said “there are many tons of metal” in the rails. The company reportedly purchased 75 miles of tracks and rights-of-way from the bridge south into Clarion County. The property purchased by Kovalchick reportedly includes the crossing gates and signal equipment as well as the tracks and ties and other property such as the Biddle Street depot in Kane.

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. But Kovalchick said this tourist train is now “up for sale.” He said his company wants out because the tourist train business has “too much liability.”

The Kovalchick company 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.

Mike Peterson, an auctioneer from Jamestown, N.Y., will conduct the railroad equipment liquidation auction.

The auction is expected to bring in between $500,000 and $1 million, according to persons familiar with the sale.

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 Friday in Kane.

The locomotives were damaged in a fire in the engine house in May.

Peterson said the auction Saturday 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 in Kane.

Although some buyers may haul away their purchases intact on large trucks, others may “cut up” the scrap railroad equipment on site.

In addition to the engine and locomotives, 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 Friday afternoon at the Nansen site include flat rail cars and about 150 pieces of rails.

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

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.

If Kovalchick removes the steel rails and wooden ties, there may be attempts to establish a rails-to-trails network over the right-of-way.