There are a few big companies in the energy sectors (as well as other industries) that will have a high chance of surviving the storm, and you can pickup their stocks for a 1/3 of their original prices (which you will never dream of buying those stocks at that value a few months ago). 

I didn't properly calculate my repair and frankly, I let my burning desire to 'take action' and get started override my common sense. 

I've been burned by this myself in the past. 

What advice could you give to someone like me that has this burning passion to get started but doesn’t really know where to start? 

--Abraham LincolnIt takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

It sounds like you have done a ton of leg work here to make sure you don't get burned and I really commend you for that.

We took advantage of many public / private programs, including vertical housing tax credits, federal grants through the Urban Renewal Agency, and energy credits all totaling over $250K in benefit.

., but even if it does, that doesn’t mean it’d be profitable today.I did a bit of googling over this thinking that the railroad was trying to keep the minerals, especially coal and iron, for themselves because a lot of steam engines burned coal and the engines and tracks were build from iron or steel (which is mostly iron).

@Aaron Burns makes perfect sense.

You can't control his intentions, or what he did/didn't know, if its an honest mistake or not, or if the prior owner knew/didn't know so lets not focus on that, it's a waste of time and energy.