Shortline in Crisis: BML - SHUT DOWN!

Hello All,
Here's the latest from Waldo county Maine:
1. The City Council from Belfast voted on Feb 1 to cancel the lease on the Belfast yard property, and has evicted the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad from it.
2. There is a clause in the lease on the remaining property - if the property in Belfast was lost - the lease would be lost on the rest of the property as well.
3. Due to the clause - the new management has been evicted from the property, no trespassing signs placed everywhere, locks changed, and is under control of one person, representing the Clifford foundation. This person, and the Clifford Foundation have, based on everything I have seen, no intention of running a railroad.
If the property in Belfast cannot be recovered or renegotiated - the railroad will be lost.
I am asking that all who care about this railroad, railroads in general, or railroad history please send your comments to the Belfast Mayor, and City council.
I have arranged a form that when submitted will open your mail program and enter everything, except a subject line, for you:
http://www.rrnne.net/savebml.html
Alternatively, for those that wish to type up their comments- they can be sent to [email protected] - and this will be forwarded to the appropriate parties, automatically.
Thank you all!
Here is an article on the shut down:
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/Opinions/G ... oryID=2793
Lets Save a Railroad!
cya, Joey

It doesn't need STB abandonment? Or is it non-jurisdictional? e.g., not connected to anyother railroad?

What a bunch of horse a$$es!

The bottom line is basically that the City has probably just been waiting for a golden opportunity like this to have some legally defensible reason to yank the lease. They couldn't break the lease without some justofication for doing it that would hold up in court. They want the railroad out of town so they can build a parking lot for the tourists, or maybe they'll sell the property so some upscale restaurant can locate there to "beautify" the waterfront area.

Question- what exactly does the city own? Is there any property in Belfast not owned by the City? It will be interesting to see how this pans out...while the City does have the right to revoke the lease, if the net result is that it forves the RR to shut down I would imagine the City would have to either relent or somehow compensate.

I can't see the STB or the courts being OK with causing a railroad to be abandoned simply because somebody wanted to break the lease. Especially if the railroad can in fact and does in fact make the payment. One late payment would not hold up in court as a reason to break a lease much less break a lease that causes the company to fold.

I hope the railroad sent that check in...as long as they did they should come out ok.

This is a tourist operation, not interstate commerce. There hasn't been a car of freight out of Belfast in many years. In fact I bellieve the last freight customer on the line, a plastic rope manufacturer at Thorndyke, has also shut down within the last couple of years.

But it still connects to the GRS at Burnham Jct.-not a captive tourist operation-and may well be a "common carrier",at least, still on paper. Bud

Hello All,
I would like to say first and foremost – to everyone who wrote to the Belfast City Council in support of the B&ML, your support is very much appreciated.
That said – the meeting tonight was attended by many from the local area – and the railroad received a lot of support.
No vote was taken, this was a discussion session, not a council meeting.
Thank you all for your support, and stay tuned for further news!
Thanks again!
--Joey Kelley

Joey,

Though no vote taken, could you get a sense of what may happen from the discussions?

What's the phone number for the town hall in Belfast?

Chris