B.C.D. 03-7 JAN 2 4 2003

EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION

Apalachicola Northern Railroad Company

This is the determination of the Railroad Retirement Board concerning

the continuing status of the Apalachicola Northern Railroad Company

(ANRR) (B.A. No. 2503) as an employer under the Railroad Retirement

Act (45 U.S.C. § 231, et seq.) (RRA) and the Railroad Unemployment

Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. § 351, et seq.) (RUIA). ANRR was ruled to be

an employer under the RRA and RUIA effective May 9, 1903.

According to information supplied by ANRR in response to a 

questionnaire in connection with its employer status, AN Railway, LLC

(ANR), B.A. No. 5586, purchased all ANRR assets on August 31, 2002 

and took over ANRR operations of its Port St. Joe-Chattahoochee line

by lease thereof. ANRR operations ceased on August 31, 2002 and

employees of ANRR were last compensated on September 30, 2002.

ANRR is owned by the St. Joe Company, a non-carrier, and ANRR has

no connection with ANR. Surface Transportation Board (STB)

authority for the aforesaid transactions between ANRR and ANR is set

forth in STB Finance Docket Number 34247, decided September 11,

2002. By selling off all of its assets, except for the trackage it owns and

leases to ANR, ANRR no longer is capable of operating as a railroad

covered under the RRA and RUIA.

In a case where an entity that has STB authority to operate a rail line

leases or contracts with another to operate the line in question, the

Board will consider whether the lessor entity is covered under the RRA

and the RUIA as a carrier, applying a test enunciated in B.C.D. No. DO47, Railroad Ventures, Inc. In this case, however, although ANRR has

leased its rail line to another entity, the evidence indicates that ANRR 

no longer has STB authority to operate the rail line now operated by

ANR. Specifically, ANR was expressly recognized by the STB as the

authorized operator of the rail line in its decision in Finance Docket No.

34247 (in Note 1). Since ANRR no longer has STB authority to operate

the rail line, the Board will not examine its coverage status under the

test set out in the Railroad Ventures decision.

BA#2503
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Apalachicola Northern Railroad Company

Section 202.11 of the Board’s regulations (20 CFR 202.11) provides that:

The employer status of any company or person shall

terminate whenever such company or person loses any of the

characteristics essential to the existence of an employer

status.

The evidence in this case shows that ANRR sold all of its equipment

and rolling stock, that ANR obtained STB authority to operate over the

line formerly operated by ANRR and has been recognized by the STB as

the authorized operator of that line, and that ANRR last compensated

its employees September 30, 2002. The Board finds that ANRR has lost 

the characteristics essential to the existence of an employer status.

Based on the information set forth above, it is the determination of the

Railroad Retirement Board that Apalachicola Northern Railroad

Company ceased being an employer covered under the RRA and RUIA

on September 30, 2002, the date on which its employees were last

compensated after it ceased operations.

Cherryl T. Thomas