Coos Bay Rail Link names locomotive after Martin Callery

Coos Bay Rail Link (CBRL) is naming one of its eight locomotives in honor of Oregon International Port of Coos Bay Chief Commercial Officer Martin Callery in what the company calls a “time-honored tradition of railroading.” Callery retires July 31, 2015, after 23 years of service with the port.

“Martin has been a huge champion of the railroad,” said Scott Parkinson, president of CBRL and ARG Transportation Services, the railroad’s holding company based in Eugene, Ore. “He was instrumental in securing the public funds to acquire and renovate the line,” Parkinson adds. Callery was also in charge of the solicitation that selected CBRL as the operator. “Thereafter,” Parkinson says, “he was a vocal proponent of CBRL and a true partner with us.”

The Martin Callery is Coos Bay Rail Link No. 2439, a 2,500-hp EMD GP30u locomotive that the railroad acquired in December 2014.

Since running its first revenue freight train in October 2011, CBRL has increased its average volume nearly ten-fold from 65 to 609 carloads per month, the railroad says.

The Coos Bay line is owned by the Port of Coos Bay, which selected ARG Transportation Services in April 2011 to operate the 133 route miles of line from Eugene to Coquelle, Ore., as the “Coos Bay Rail Link.” ARG Transportation Services began operations in November 2003 when it acquired the San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad Co. from RailAmerica, Inc.

CBRL was named Railway Age’s Short Line Railroad of the Year in 2014.