Edaville turned into a housing development?

[creeker]

I have heard from some friends that Edaville is being sold off for houses. The rails are being ripped up and everything. I have found auction fourms on it too so it must be true! What a shame. If anyone can conferm this it would help.

-Eric

[wolfmom69]

I guess all the former Edaville rolling stock,that some people felt wouldve been safer at Edaville,than on the Maine Narrow Gauge,with all the vandalism and salt air in Portland,wouldve been better off at Edaville. Yup,"yuppie" developers couldve made quaint street signs,mailboxes,and enclosed school bus stops for the little yuppies in training! Bud

[mc367]

Sad to see a part of The story of the Maine Two Footers lost to history. I remember saying on the old forum that Edaville should be saved before its too late, I think its now too late. Edaville 1945-2004
-justin

[highgreen1]

I understand the auction will be Thursday, May 13, inspection beginning 8 a.m. and auction at 11 a.m. Mortgage your house first because the required deposits and terms are hefty.

[BenH]

Here's the first, and only, news report that I could find on this - to date. Looks to me like the beginning of the end for the RR there. Very sad. I can remember going there as a kid in the 70s.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/article ... news06.txt

Interesting to see that the Edaville web site is still alive and kicking, at the moment.
http://www.edaville.com/

[Sir Ray]

The basic problem, from the Newspaper article, from a column in this month's Railpace, and from other sources, is that few people seemed interested in visiting (and bringing their kids) to Edaville.
So a few people will feel sad about it's closing, but in general most residents won't care one way or the other.

Actually, that is a good question - why didn't it take off? It seemed 'Cranrail' did a decent job of restoring the site and publizing it, but apparently to no avail - do Kids up there not like amusement parks and live steamer rides?

[Steam]

I think the new outfit messed with the basic premise which had been successful all the years since 1946... a nostalgic steam train ride with a few other diversions and the famous outdoor chicken barbeque. They tried to turn it into a carnival which just happened to have a mostly diesel powered train ride around it. For the most part the steam trains and original Maine two foot equipment were gone. People aren't stupid... they realized right away that it wasn't the OLD Edaville they remembered. A classic case of fixing what was not broken (just financially drained by the prior operator who went on to work the same "magic" on the Cumbres & Toltec!)

[highgreen1]

I don't think they ever could have made it no matter how much money they put into it. The answer is very simple: times change.

Just a couple of years ago, A.D.Makepeace, the biggest owner of cranberry bogs in the region (thousands of acres) decided that competing with the modern Michigan and Wisconsin bogs was just about impossible and, at the same time, the price they were getting for the cranberries had "gone through the floor". In other words, Makepeace could no longer afford to grow cranberries. The firm is now proceeding to sell off a huge amount of the property to developers. Also, property values in eastern Massachusetts have gone through the roof, so they will do very well.

The Atwood property is probably a smaller scale version of the same thing. With dwindling crowds of young families that find more thrills in "Fear Factor" and skate boards, Edaville became just a quaint, nostalgic experience just for the holidays. This, plus rising costs of operation, the lower cranberry income, and the siren lure of developers was just too much. Time and economics finally caught up with Edaville. Too bad, but it was inevitable.

[zz4]

I notice their website updated May 4,2004.



If the same operation runs the website maybe they began to 'turn people off" ?


>>>>>>>>

Photos maybe digitally watermarked to protect ownership. 
 Use of sounds/photos or unapproved use of linking to this page without written permission is in violation of Federal Laws 
  All rights reserved 
Revised: Tuesday, May 04, 2004


>>>>>>>>>

Use of anything on the web is legal for educational non-profit purposes with not having to beg for permission. I mean 'excerpts' 'portions'..not the whole thing duplicated to the T.


Now its illegal to link to the site? I know that in Europe they had some big 'link' legal cases that flopped.


I guess to get the last penny maybe somebody wants to sell their website images at ebay?



Just some oddball thoughts by myself. I'm not a lawyer.


Simply saying WE WELCOME THE WORLD TO SAVE OUR WEB IMAGES would only promote the commercial operation?

They want traffic to their site? Illegal links? That clause prohibits any search engine listing their site.


o--I forgot...Google begs them for written permission?

[Steam]

Hopefully some of the Maine groups can retrieve the last of the genuine original two foot equipment that still resides at S. Carver in the upcoming auction.

The rest of the stuff appears to mostly be the "carnival" rides they filled the place with over the last couple of years.

As for the standard gauge equipment, I'm sure there are entities which will snap that up for various applications. I'm sorry to see the ex Wolfeboro RR #250 listed as a Boston & Maine machine. It was originally Bonhommie & Hattiesburg Southern RR. It's a little light for a tourist railroad operation, but as a former volunteer at WRR, we sure had some wonderful times with it in the 70s!

Will be interesting to see the outcome of the auction.

[BenH]

This article, from the May 9th edition of the Boston Globe, confirms the worst.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... ion_block/

[creeker]

WOW i didnt know that 6 original 2ft guage coaches were still at Edaville. WW&F sould look into that if they have enough money. MNG better not think about it. They have enough to worry about with what they have.

-Eric

[Steam]

Does anyone know how the auction turned out yesterday? Who showed up? What was sold to whom? I understand there was a bit on the channel 5 news, but I missed it.

[jcpatten]

Ultimately, the Edaville equipment was auctioned off as a block for $1.5 million to Ledle, Inc, whom I understand is/was a creditor of CranRail the Edaville operator.

However, for an hour or so, we at the WW&F were the proud owners of a flatcar, a B&H coach, and an Edaville-built coach. Maine Narrow Gauge Museum owned a diesel and a SR&RL coach. Some of the other equipment went to the current owner of the Belfast & Moosehead Lake RR, who wants to start a 2-foot railroad in New York.

But, since the combined bids only came to something like $300,000, it wasn't enough to cover what the bank was requiring so a bid was placed for the whole lot.

It's my understanding that Edaville will still be operated by CranRail and that Edaville WILL open later this year.

[Steam]

UNBELIEVABLE!!

This is the gift that keeps on giving! Or the Energizer Bunny gone mad!

If they couldn't make it BEFORE declaring bankruptcy and having all the negative publicity in the media, what makes them think trying once again to resurrect it will work?

Edaville RR is dead and gone, and has been since 1991.

For cripes sake, build the condos and get it over with!