B&ML asks Council for second chance

Railroad asks Belfast council for second chance
Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - Bangor Daily News

BELFAST - With their lease to operate from the waterfront rail yard in jeopardy, officials from the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad came before the City Council Tuesday asking for a second chance. B&ML president Ron Trottier and his general manager, Paul Hallett, both implored the council to overlook the fact that the railroad had broken the lease when it failed to make its lease payments on time. They described the error as an oversight and assured the council that the payments would be on time in the future.

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Sad,but typical! Woman city official interviewed on T.V. news last night,could hardly contain herself with glee. Belfast's "new image" is the trendy,upscale,which in my wife's and my opinion,has meant higher prices at Belfast antique shops. We will avoid them like the plaque on our "antiquing forays" in the warmer weather. Hope that the new interstate interchange,just north of Augusta,which makes getting to Route 3 easier than the rotaries in downtown Augusta(this is the way many going to the "real downeast Maine,such as Bar Harbor,use to avoid the congestion on Rt. 1, Bath to Belfast),will avoid stopping off at Belfast. Would love to see an on line industry develop along the B & ML, say between Unity and Brooks,a major employer for job starved Waldo County,and a savior for the railroad( a quarry operation,unit train to Burnham Jct. and GRS pops into my sleepy brain,such as NHN and Ossipee). Don't think that enough tourists travel through Burnham,Brooks,or Unity areas to make a go with walk ups,like Belfast waterfront did,and couldve done better. Bud

The funny thing is most towns lloking to "upscale" and draw in tourists would support a tourist attraction such as the B&ML. Hell, a lot of towns would go out of their way to give the RR a sweet deal to encoruage them to develop their business. Seems almsot like some Belfast city officials must have some kidn of deep rooted psychological resentment of Belfast's history as a cannery, amnufacturing, and fishing town and is trying to practice "revisionist history" to present Belfast as "upscale and trendy", and only mention teh City's past in a romanticized way.

Dummies...I bet B&ML could do a hell of a business (and draw a hell of a lot of people to Belfast) if the City encoruaged them...they could spruce up their facilties, have space for displaying all the historic equipment (which teh City forced them to move out to places in nomans land where noone but true fans will ever see them...and much of which would ahve been scrapped were it not for a gentleman in city Point), etc. and really ahve a first-clas operation going...IF the City would give them as much support as the do for encouraging upscale shops and art galleries to locate in town.

Are you guys kidding?!?!? Did you see the lease payment that was due BML? $650 per month! First of all, any railroad, operating museum, whatever that can't afford that kind of lease can't afford to be in business, period. For one thing, does anyone expect that BML could be operated in a safe manner with such a tight purse string? And what should the city do to "encourage" them??? Sounds like they've been subsidized by the city for quite a while. And 3,800 riders a season... well, that ain't Jack! And another thing- the BML drew business from the town's tourist appeal, not the other way around. Aside from foamers, how many people do you think actually were drawn to Belfast because of the train? Fianlly, let's not forget that the BML's route is not exactly scenic, unless you like pine trees. Sorry, but the BML's future is as a rail trail. Yuppies or no yuppies.

Cowford wrote:Are you guys kidding?!?!? Did you see the lease payment that was due BML? $650 per month! First of all, any railroad, operating museum, whatever that can't afford that kind of lease can't afford to be in business, period. And 3,800 riders a season... well, that ain't Jack!

According to BML officials, the missed lease payments were not due to a lack of funds, but rather, a "technical glitch." I'm not sure what that technical glitch actually was, but at this time, the company is saying that they do have the ability to pay. It was also noted in another newspaper story that they spent $5,000 to repair a city-owned grade crossing, and were never reimbursed by the city.

As far as ridership goes... let's round it up to 4,000... and assuming they operate five days a week during June, July, and August (a.k.a. "summer"), that works out to about 67 riders per day. I'm sure that's quite a bit lower than what they'd like, but one of the other newspaper articles also noted that they want to do much more advertising this year than they did last year. And I suspect there are several tourist railroads that would kill for 67 riders per day.

The future for the BML does appear to be grim. And it has been that way for a while. This recent development certainly makes it a bit worse. It's sad enough that the BML never made it to Moosehead Lake. Not making it to Belfast, after such a long and colorful history, would be truly sad.

Maybe they'll change their name to the Burnham & Brooks Railroad.

OK, let's see what the City of Belfast has done to improve the appeal and promote the B&ML:

-ordered the railroad out of the city-owned station building, so that B&ML sells tickets out of a boxcar (no nostalgia there...nor any shelter from inclement weather). I wonder how many tourists hear about the train and then stroll down and see the meager "station" and re-think whether this is something they want to pay money for? I bet they woul like things better if they bought tickets and boarded at an actual "old-fashioned train station"

-ripped up most of the yard, forcing B&ML to move a collection of equipment which would be deserving of the title "Maine State Railroad Museum" to obscure locales in Thorndike, Unity, etc. THey also would have had no problem seeing half of this equipment scrapped to get the "eyesores" out of the way, but fortunately the "City Point Central" stepped in and made a home for the stuff in City Point. In case anyone is unaware...we're talking MEC wood cabooses, MEC and BAR wood passenger equipment, MEC 40' wood boxcars, the body of a B&M passenger car dating from the 1870s or something ridiculous like that, MEC work cars, a wooden Russell plow, etc...a lot of RR museums and historical organizations would kill for a collection with such goodies and as representative of their geographic region...but the City of Belfast said, rather than create a palce where thsi stuff could be restored, admired, and interpreted, it either goes out or gets scrapped-the artsy/tartsy crowd doesn't like that kinda stuff.

-refused to allow B&ML to run their Steam loco into the City, thus probably causing a solid 50% loss of potential ridership for the railroad and causing teh steam loco to have to be run out of some obscure place called "Unity" that is abotu 20 miles from the back of beyond and barely appears as a dot on the map. With a little promotion and steam-powered trains departing right from the Belfast waterfront I bet the B&ML could do a bang-up business every tourist season

-financial mismanagement by the City prior to the time they sold their interest in the RR is highly suspect...potentially they left B&ML in poorer financial state than need be

-rather than encourage jobs and the local economy by encouraging a coupel of industries to locate in teh area, they try to deny that industry should even exist in the holy City of Belfast...as long as the toursits come every summer, who needs a year-round job, right?

-the overall attitude of the City is that they'd prefer the railroad gone- so rather than promote it as an attraction, they seem to just barely acknowledge that it exists...so any PR/advertising the RR gets comes from the RR intself, as the City meanwhile goes about and merrily touts the tourist traps and junk shops and encourages people from far and wide to visit them

-Bottom line is, I have to believe B&ML could draw AT LEAST 10,000 riders a year if properly promoted, allowed to run steam trains out of Belfast, painted in a "good light" by the City, accompanied by some historic RR equipment dispalys, and with an actual station and yard to use as a terminal instead of a fairly unappealing and "temporary" looking facility shoehorned in amongst the surrounding (CITY-SUPPORTED!) "attractions". I honestly would not even put 20,000+ a year out of the realm of possibility IF the atmosphere, STEAM operation, promotions, etc. were there. I bet B&ML would have a larger base of volunteers to "make things happen" if this were the case as well.

As for scenery along the line from Belfast to Brooks- I would say it's better than 75% of the tourist railroads in the northeast, so I hardly share the opinion that "lack of scenery" is an issue. It's not spectacular, but it's quite pleasant, certainly just as good as the scenery on the Green Mountain, Conway Scenic (excluding Crawford Notch of course), Delaware & Ulster, etc. There are plenty of tourist railroads in the region with less scenic appeal that draw 10 times the ridership...but they need promotion (on a level they could not achieve without the support of local towns, Chambers of Commerce, torusim bureaus, etc.), a first-class appearance and atmosphere, and at least one "grabber" (i.e., steam operation, high visibility to folks "passing through", etc.) to do it.

This is a wild shot in the dark, but I wonder if the BML/Railstar folks would be interested (and able) to operate their steam loco on the State-owned Rockland Branch. I realize that Maine Eastern is the operator of the line, but maybe some sort of strategic partnership could be formed, to the benefit of both companies.

Have seen elsewhere that the payment was made and the City refused to accept it.

I don't think it's generally accepted practice to evict a tenant over one late payment that is receieved a few days after it is due.

Bottom line is City is bullying the railroad because they finally have a leg to stand on in their efforts to get the railroad out of Belfast. Fortunately it sounds like there is a fair amount of local opposition and criticism of the City's actions.

oibu wrote:I don't think it's generally accepted practice to evict a tenant over one late payment that is receieved a few days after it is due.

It wasn't just one late payment. It was four payments that were completely missed.

From the January 18 article in Village Soup:

"City Manager Terry St. Peter said RailStar was three or four months behind in its payments when the city sent a 10-day notice in mid-December. There was no response in the 10-day window called for in the lease, St. Peter said, so the city can now order the railroad off the waterfront property..."

I'm not defending the city by any means, but they are certainly within their rights at this point.

We stopped in Belfast last October for the first time in many years. We were not impressed with the city or the railroad.

The city is a poor second to Boothbay, Rockland and Camden in all respects.

The railroad has the smell of death about it.

I would think the whole operation would be better off in a welcoming atmosphere, which Belfast obviously will never again be. The idea of having the steam train operate on the new and fabulous Maine Eastern is certainly worth considering. They have the new track, the great scenery, turning facilities at both ends, and the will and community support lacking in Belfast. Can you see that beautful Swedish steam loco and matching cars on the welded rail of the ME? Now that would be a tourist train.

Steam wrote:The idea of having the steam train operate on the new and fabulous Maine Eastern is certainly worth considering. They have the new track, the great scenery, turning facilities at both ends, and the will and community support lacking in Belfast. Can you see that beautful Swedish steam loco and matching cars on the welded rail of the ME? Now that would be a tourist train.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels that way.

I've ridden the BML from Unity to Burnham Jct and I certainly enjoyed it from a railfan's perspective, but I can see how "average folks" would find it kinda boring, and perhaps overpriced. It's a neat little stretch of track, and it's a great blast from the past... several unprotected grade crossings, old bridges, and the interchange with Guilford at Burnham... but those are things that "average folks" generally don't appreciate. The Rockland Branch, on the other hand, is definitely more beautiful and visually appealing to people of all types. I would guess that it's also a much smoother ride now compared to the BML, which was pretty rough the last time I was up there. The cars rocked and rolled like hell on the portions of the line where they were allowed to go 25 MPH, which wasn't particularly pleasant for folks like myself who get motion sickness. (Harmonic rocking, as the phenomenon is known, is always pretty bad at 25mph, regardless of the condition of the track.)

I wasn't all that thrilled with the Swedish passenger cars either. They are interesting from a railfan's perspective, in terms of most of us having never seen passenger rolling stock from overseas before, but they weren't particularly clean the day I was there, the A/C wasn't working and you couldn't open the windows... I ended up spending most of my time in the open-air car directly behind the locomotive... which, again, is great from a railfan's point of view, but the "average folks" don't like the loudness of the horn or the "unpleasant" (I beg to differ!) diesel fumes. Or coal fumes and bits of hot ash, as the case may be. I haven't been aboard Maine Eastern's passenger cars, but I've heard that they're pretty nice. I suppose they'd need some modifications to be pulled by the Swedish steam loco, though.

I wonder how much of a production it would be for Guilford to move the steamer from Burnham to Brunswick?

While I would love to see(and ride)Swedish steam on the Rockland Branch,it won't happen. No,not with the NIMBY contingent,especially in Wiscasset. Then we have the people bitching about the lime dust near Dragon Cement and their health!(Lime has been quarried in area for nearly 200 years). There was bitching in Wiscasset when Maine Coast had the Alcos,especially throttling up with the couple of heavy coal consists per year! Guilford should have no trouble(yeah right!),with the move of the steamer. I followed the move of the RDC from the BML to the ill fated Richmond-Gardner train,and its return to Unity. GRS special move to CPF 192(Falmouth,runaround consist on the passing track,then to the Brunswick Running track at CPF 185. Love to see it,but NOT much chance with the NIMBY attitude! Bud

I am a part time employee of the BML and I help run, maintain and fire the 1149. Because of the fact I do work there, I do not want to comment on recent events I'm sure you're all aware of. I will say" Don't write us off, yet".
As to the comments about the AC failure and the coaches being dirty, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know when it was you rode us, but I do know that the RR has been through some tough times and getting all the help and support you need to keep things presentable for an operation like this can be quite challenging at times. This last season we ran pretty much with a 3 car consist and to my knowledge, the AC has always been working and the cars have been kept clean.
I find it interesting that we ran a train at 25 MPH! If someone told you that, I'm afraid you were misinformed. All of our track is FRA class 1 and we cannot go over 15MPH. I do know the spots where the cars "rock like hell" and we try to go slow over them. Again, I don't know when you rode us or who was running that day.
As to the trip being boring, I tend to agree with you. What do you guys think would be entertaining?
Finally, If you come to ride us and find something wrong or have an idea, tell us! It doesn't do any good to find fault with something and then not tell anyone about it. The shoe being on the other foot, if nobody will listen to you, why bother to tell. We finally got a good manager this year who will listen and try to change things. I, personally, welcome feedback from our clientel. If you want to make yourself better, you have to listen to your patrons and give them what they want, I think.
LF

bml1149 wrote:.I find it interesting that we ran a train at 25 MPH! If someone told you that, I'm afraid you were misinformed. All of our track is FRA class 1 and we cannot go over 15MPH. I do know the spots where the cars "rock like hell" and we try to go slow over them. Again, I don't know when you rode us or who was running that day.

I had a handheld GPS receiver with me, and there were definitely some moments when we did 20-25. But that was in 2001 I think, and I don't want anybody to get in trouble, so we'll leave it at that.

Nevertheless, I had a really good time! But I'm a railfan, so I had an "unfair advantage" in terms of how much enjoyment I got out of it compared to the other passengers.

Was it a sustained speed of 20 to 25? A GPS will often give erroneous speeds for short periods.

Moreover, in 2001 selective availability was not yet turned off. That intentional degradation of civilian GPS signals meant that often speeds and locations could be wrong for a considerable period of time.