$180,000 in unpaid rent on rail cars. This was increased to over $740,000 when Carolina Southern's attorney said the rail cars could not be returned. Also in 2013, Horry County declared Carolina Southern to be in default and cancelled its contract. The county had yet to sue for the $150,000 the railroad owes. County records showed that, while Ken Pippin was found in default on $400,000 in debt secured by a condominium, he owned three other condos worth $879,000. In February 2015, a federal judge ordered that Norfolk Southern be paid $103,826 plus the cost of moving the cars. On March 6, 2014, an article posted on the My Horry News website stated that Carolina Southern could be bought by Palmetto Railways, a division of the state Department of Commerce, though according to local officials, getting all parties involved to agree on a price could be difficult. Wendel said a private purchaser would be more desirable. On April 30, 2014, The Sun News reported that the two state committee trying to get Carolina Southern back in operation decided that it would need its own appraisal of Carolina Southern Railroad, The state did an appraisal for Carolina Southern due to the possible Palmetto Railways deal, but refused to share the appraisal with the committee, according to co-chairman Doug Wendel. The state did have its own appraisal done as it was considering purchasing Carolina Southern and making it a part of the state-owned Palmetto Railways. Pippin wanted to maintain ownership of seven miles of track around Mullins that freight into and out of the rest of the line would need toll travel to get to the national rail system. On May 15, 2014, My Horry News announced that the owners of Carolina Southern Railroad delayed their plans to abandon tracks, so that state and local leaders could line up the money to buy the struggling railroad. On July 23, 2014, it was reported that Carolina Southern Railroad agreed to begin the progress to abandoning all but seven miles of its track that are located in South Carolina and Columbus County. Area governments and Carolina Southern also announced a settlement that provides for a sale of the railroad, either at a price negotiated among the parties or one that is set by the Surface Transportation Board, asked the next day to dismiss with prejudice their complaint relating to Carolina Southern. On August 6,