KITTY LITTER PLANT CLOSES; RAILROAD BRANCHES SERVING PLANT ARE ON THE LINE

JACKSON -- Closure this week of the Golden Cat Corp.'s Oran production facility will end the operation of at least one and possibly both branch line railroads that served the facility, officials said.

The affected lines are the Golden Cat Railroad and the Jackson & Southern Railroad, officials said.

On Monday the Golden Cat Railroad ceased operation. The Jackson & Southern Railroad, which operated the Golden Cat Railroad under contract to its parent company, the Golden Cat Corp., will continue to exist on paper for the time being, but will not operate as an active railroad.

The Golden Cat Railroad was organized in 1987 after Ed Lowes of Kitty Litter fame and founder of Edward Lowes Industries purchased an 11-mile segment of the Missouri Pacific Railroad's former Belmont Branch line from Delta to the Lowes plant south of Oran.

Although the Golden Cat Railroad owned the tracks and rights-of-way between the Oran plant and Delta, the actual switching of rail cars between the plant and the Union Pacific interchange track at Delta was performed by the Jackson & Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Cairo Terminal Railroad of Cairo, Ill.

In November 1990, an investor group purchased Edward Lowes Industries from Lowes, and renamed it the Golden Cat Corp.

The Jackson & Southern was created in 1984 after the Jackson Industrial Development Corp. (JIDC) bought the Missouri Pacific Railroads's 18-mile Jackson Branch Line to Allenville and Delta. The JIDC in turn contracted with the Cairo Terminal to operate the J&S between Jackson and Delta.

In July 1990 the JIDC sold the Jackson & Southern railroad tracks and rights-of-way to a group of Cape Girardeau County stockholders who are involved in the operation of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, a steam-and-diesel-powered tourist railroad headquartered in Jackson.

The Jackson & Southern Railroad's GP-9 diesel locomotive was not included in the sale because it is owned by the Cairo Terminal and was leased to the Jackson & Southern.

Following the closing of the Oran plant, Lewis Boatright of the Cairo Terminal Railroad said the J&S diesel locomotive is for sale.

"As soon as the locomotive is sold, the Jackson & Southern Railroad will, for all practical purposes, cease to exist since it will no longer have any physical assets," Boatright explained.

However, the J&S will continue to exist on paper for an indefinite period since it still retains the interchange rights at Delta with the Union Pacific Railroad, he said.

With the Oran plant now closed, the former Golden Cat rail line to Delta faces an uncertain future.

Jim Gugino, director of manufacturing and engineering at the Golden Cat Corp. office in Cape Girardeau, said the company has at least two options. One is to sell the track for scrap salvage since the rail and other property have a high salvage value; the other is to sell the branch line.

"We have learned that we may receive a proposal from a group that has some interest in the railroad, but at this point we have not received anything in writing. We may know more later in the month," Gugino said.