The Knox & Kane Railroad and Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources have settled a lawsuit over the Kinzua Bridge
State Park, which brings to an end the railroad’s agreement for use
of the park.

The railroad had been suing over losses incurred from DCNR
actions following a tornado that leveled 11 towers out of 20 on the
historic Kinzua Viaduct.

“That suit was settled for $12,500,” explained Terry Brady,
deputy press secretary of the DCNR, last week.

Sloan Cornell, the owner and operator of the Knox & Kane
Railroad, had been seeking $106,000, Brady said. Neither Cornell
nor his attorney, Benjamin Dunlap Jr. of Gettysburg, would comment
on the case.

The railroad filed the suit in February 2005 in the state Board
of Claims court. Among other things, Cornell had asked for
compensation for railroad facilities that became unusable after the
tornado.

“He claimed we should reimburse him for track on the other side
of the bridge,” Brady said, detailing some of what Cornell had
sought in the suit.

The suit reads that Cornell was seeking to recover $69,000 “due
to an inability to recover its rail facilities on the north side of
the bridge” because the DCNR’s contractor took out an access road
following the tornado.

Knox & Kane also claimed $4,050 in losses from posting a
watchman at the bridge each day of operations in 2003 while the
DCNR contractors were working on the viaduct; and $5,000 in losses
from Park Manager Barrett Clark refusing to allow the excursion
train to operate in the park the weekend after the tornado struck
in spite of the fact the park was open to other visitors.

Brady explained that after six months of legal wrangling over
the matter, officials with the DCNR sought to end the suit.

“Our understanding from this end, it was best just to settle …
to take of (the lawsuit) for that amount,” Brady said.

He added the funds were not agreed upon to be allocated toward
any specific complaint.

“He can apply it any which way he wants,” Brady said, explaining
Cornell can use the settlement.

The actual date of the settlement was Aug. 25. With the
settlement, Knox & Kane’s Land & Facility Use Agreement for
the Kinzua Bridge State Park came to an end.

“The agreement with the railroad is null and void. It’s
terminated,” Brady said.

The viaduct was closed to rail traffic on June 19, 2002, to
determine the extent of structural deterioration and to make
repairs to the bridge. The following month, after DCNR engineers
got a closer look at the true extent of the damage, the bridge was
closed to pedestrian traffic as well.

Massive repair efforts began in 2003, and workers were at the
Kinzua Bridge State Park the day the tornado struck.

On July 21, 2004, the DCNR informed the railroad that the
viaduct would not be rebuilt, as it was too costly.

In April 2005, the railroad announced that it would not be
offering an excursion train to the state park during the summer.
Business had declined since passengers could no longer ride across
the viaduct, Cornell said.

The train made its maiden voyage across the viaduct Aug. 7,
1987. After the DCNR closed the viaduct to the train, Knox &
Kane would carry passengers to the park, off-load them to walk
through the park and see the viaduct, and then carry the passengers
back to the Kane station.