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About four years ago, the Fall River newspaper published an article about the costs of Southcoast Rail. At that time, about $117 Million had been spent on "studies". The original projected cost of the entire project at the time of its inception was about $138 Million. So somebody has made ...

Paul, that link to the "Gala" announcement you posted, which shows the speaker as "to be announced" several years after the event, makes me inclined to agree even more with your views about how this group was being run. When the identity of the keynote speaker and the program at ...

Fascinating links to the gala announcements, Paul. Observe that the keynote speaker is "to be announced". I guess they never got around to announcing. Kind of strange for an organization with an "educational" mission that is supposed to be providing a "public benefit". ...

Thanks for the correction on that.

I wonder if they will ever get around to correcting the estimated completion date, shown on the page as 2010.

MX

The Winton 201A at the B&O Museum isn't too hard to find. Walk from the main building over to the coach shop, go in the door and straight toward the back of the building, the 201A is on the left side next to the EMD 567. The 201A looks to be freshly rebuilt, other than the accumulation of dust i...

Going to another marine analogy, I wonder if the Flying Yankee has some things in common with the iceberg that the TITANIC hit. It seems like there might be a lot more lurking beneath the surface, not visible to the casual observer. Take the situation with grant money for instance. No mention of gra...

It was "done" when it was at Edaville too, Paul. They really didn't care very much about it, other than that it might have some cash value for sale or scrap. They had it on display for several decades with no caps on the stacks and the rain running down into the air box of the engine made ...

I think it would look very nice as a stationary display at one of the parking lots that serve the hiking trails in Crawford Notch.

MX

I think this project is just about done. Not done in the sense of being completed, but done in the sense that people have no confidence any more that the donations are being used for a good purpose. Looking at data on railroad carloadings from AAR and petroleum usage information from EIA, it looks l...

Lesson: Don't attempt a project without reasonable assurance you have the means to complete it.

Thanks for your excellent posting, Safetee. Yes, the S. S. Nobska is now part of Chinese built consumer products. The attempt at a running restoration led to the demolition of the artifact. A more financially conservative attempt at static display might have had a chance at preserving it (or maybe n...

"....dissecting the issue will help others not make the same mistakes in the future. " S. S. Nobska: Is it a good idea to take a 1920s steamship that needs extensive reconstruction and start a project to rebuild it with an uncertain supply of public money and donations, without adequate pr...

Demand an autopsy..... This project has to date achieved a status not unlike the S. S. Nobska. It has consumed an impressive amount of money and the only more or less complete result of that expenditure is a website. Welcome Aboard! (Note the text frame at the bottom of the page that explains what h...

MEC407 hit it exactly, this "project" just doesn't seem to have any consistent management or planning, other than collecting donations and spending them. Greatly inflated claims of imminent progress followed with indeterminate delays and lack of movement. No apparent project management, no...

It sort of reminds me of the green goats. Or were those green pigs? Whatever.

MX