March 29, 2017 - KTRE.com -

During a meeting Wednesday morning, the board for the Texas State Railroad gave its approval for a tentative offer to have the Arizona-based Western Group to take over operations of the railroad.

The railroad’s contract with Iowa Pacific is scheduled to end in May. The board sent a 120-day termination notice to Iowa Pacific in January if the company could not pay back on their estimated $2 million in loan payments owed to the cities of Rusk and Palestine.

At today's meeting the board's legal counsel noted that he was called by Iowa Pacific and told that the group did have an investor on the way that would be good for money and the plan was for them to start making IRS payments. Iowa Pacific had offered the TSRA $500,000 up front as long as they could remain the operator and set up a payment system for the rest.

Read more: http://www.ktre.com/story/35024289/texas-state-railroad-board-approves-tentative-contract-with-arizona-company