Fresh plans in US firm's bid for Flyer

A United States company has big plans for Kingston if a tender bid - its third - for the historic Kingston Flyer steam train is successful.

Michigan-based Railmark president and chief executive Allen Brown said he would put in an offer for the assets of Kingston Acquisitions Ltd this week.

The assets include two steam locomotives towing seven fully refurbished carriages, track, station, associated buildings and nearly 80ha of development land around Kingston, 35km south of Queenstown.

Mr Brown said he wanted to buy the complete package.

"We think our offer will be in the best interests of all the stakeholders, mortgagee and the area. It's pretty exciting. I'm hoping our third time will be lucky," he said.

The company made an offer of $2.5 million for the train and track last February, but it was rejected by Prudential Mort-gagees Nominees Ltd, which appointed Lindsay McClean, of Malloch McClean, as receiver earlier this month.

Railmark then made an offer to the train's operator, Kingston Flyer Steamtrain Ltd, in July, but it was blocked by Prudential, he said.

"This time we are dealing with the receiver so it's a little different now. The receiver will have a lot more latitude," he said.

He declined to say how much the offer was.

"It is a different offer so you can't compare the two. I will say the value of the railroad is much less because it is shut down. The longer it is shut down the less it becomes in terms of value."

Mr Brown said he planned to double the number of customers within three years.

The offer was part of the company's "larger strategy" to tap into the Australian and New Zealand markets.

"Our offer is not just about the Flyer. We intend to pursue freight and passenger opportunities using Kingston and the Flyer as the base of our operation," he said.

The 80ha of development land for tender is made up of 13 parcels of land, including residential sections and development blocks, one of which has consent for a 15-lot subdivision.

The company was in talks with international developers to examine its options, which included building "condos, townhouses and hotels".

He said he would rehire the former Kingston Flyer staff and provide "retraining".

"We will finally put this train on the right path. We will not change what's not broken. We will continue the fine work done on the train and add our programme and resources to it to bring it to a higher level," he said.

Mr Brown said extending the 14km track had a lot of appeal.

"We are in the track construction business so I would not be afraid of taking that on. It's not beyond our capabilities," he said.

He said his business had been affected by the global recession but "we've been able to combat that".

The tender would be lodged with Bayleys in the next few days, he said.

Railmark's website says the company has four primary business segments: railroad operations, track construction and maintenance, rail freight logistics, and rail entertainment.