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The St. Joe Co. Aug. 26 agreed to sell Apalachicola Northern Railroad Co.'s (ANRR) rolling stock (six locomotives and 149 rail cars) to Rail Management Corp. subsidiary AN Railway L.L.C., subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms weren't disclosed.


St. Joe would retain ownership of 96-mile ANRR's right-of-way, track, related facilities and real estate but lease the track and facilities to AN Railway, which would provide rail service between Port St. Joe and Chattahoochee, Fla.


ANRR currently ships chemicals, wood chips, lime, scrap paper, bauxite and lumber to Chattahoochee, Fla., where it connects with several large railroads.


"[Our] management team's expertise is in real estate, not railroads, [and] we believe that ANRR customers will benefit greatly from Rail Management's short-line railroad expertise," said Peter Rummell, St. Joe chairman and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.


St. Joe is a real estate firm that formerly owned part of Florida East Coast Railway; Rail Management owns and operates 108-mile The Bay Line Railroad L.L.C., which operates between Panama City, Fla., and Dothan, Ala., and 12 other short lines.


"We're a local business, we're familiar with the region and we're committed to regional economic development," said Rail Management Chairman and CEO Earl Durden. "We see reliable rail service as an important part of Gulf County's economic development strategy going forward."