Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum (BSRM) Thread

[DutchRailnut]

Its believed to be decision by HRRC only, and not any outside agency.

[Backshophoss]

Oh Joy,"internal politics". Thats not good for Berkshire Scenic RY.
The best anyone can do now is try to visit the museum,depot grounds, and the gift shop
to help them out.

[DutchRailnut]

HRRC has a bug up their arse, cause of certain observations made not only me, but by Berkshire Scenic and many others.
The Comments were about the passenger service HRRC proposed and the infeasability mentioned by just about all.
They got as far as banning me from Danbury to Stateline (NY) in responce.
Not that that will curtail my income, or MNCR's service in anyway, I only got less than 95 mondays till retirement.
And I do not forsee more washouts or excursions.

Ps my personal opinion, is a form of free speech, it is NOT the opinion of MNCR or the MTA (just to make that clear for those that do not understand this)

[Dick H]

No doubt a seven figure check from Beacon Hill in Boston will change things quick at the HRRC....

But there better be plenty of strings attached....

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Housy should probably concentrate its energies on...I don't know...staying in business, not losing more business, not getting its arse sued by interchange partners many times larger than them over unwillingness to maintain operable track. Little stuff like that.

[DutchRailnut]

How about getting their two mechanics to fix the engines, so housy has more that two engines for entire railroad ??

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

No doubt a seven figure check from Beacon Hill in Boston will change things quick at the HRRC....

But there better be plenty of strings attached....

HRCC owns its tracks in MA. If they want the state's help fixing them up, sell the line to the state for a discount in exchange for rebuilding help. MA EOT might have a passing interest in locking up more rail infrastructure under public trust since this is an interstate 286K link. But otherwise it's a fool's errand to give Housy any free money. Even Grafton & Upton has got to be higher on the pecking order right now in MA for actual ability to make good on a grant investment.

CDOT, which owns all of the tracks north of New Milford, probably isn't keen on investing in that FAILroad either without some sort of collateral agreement with teeth. I could see the line getting a significant public investment if CDOT were able to snap up the Berkshire to New Milford as a future commuter rail hold and take control of the Maybrook to keep this P&W dispute from going nuclear again. Again...on the cheap. But those are more prevent-moves to save Housy from itself and possibly stabilize things enough to make it semi-attractive to a more competent prospective buyer. That's it...that's their only real interest. The outfit as presently constituted and operated isn't deserving of a cent of public investment. They didn't exactly make good on all the money that was spent reopening the Berkshire end-to-end.


How are they even staying in business like this???

[Otto Vondrak]

Massachusetts already paid for one rehab of the HRRC, with the cooperation of Berkshire Scenic...

In my opinion, HRRC's problem is too many miles, not enough customers.

That said, the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum will be open this season, with the Lenox Depot and associated outdoor and indoor displays open to the public... Show your support!

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

Here's the story from today's Berkshire Eagle:

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_204736 ... eeagle.com

Housatonic Railroad Co., which runs freight trains on the line it owns between Danbury, Conn., and Pittsfield, has declined to renew its operating agreement with Berkshire Scenic without explanation. According to Housatonic’s vice president for special projects, Colin Pease, the decision is final... Berkshire Scenic had been running trains on a two-year extension of an operating agreement through a seven-year easement granted to the State Department of Transportation by Housatonic in 2002 in exchange for $3 million in funding to maintain the tracks. The extension of the easement and the operating agreement expired on Dec. 31. Colin Pease, representing Housatonic’s president, John Hanlon, who lives in Sheffield, stated that the company "has determined that continued operation by Berkshire Scenic Railway on Housatonic-owned track is no longer possible."

And here's the joke:

Pease, the Housatonic executive, emphasized that the breakup with Berkshire Scenic is not connected to Housatonic’s plans to seek $200 million in public and private financing to operate passenger service between Pittsfield and Danbury, connecting to the Metro North commuter line in Brewster, N.Y.

Problem is, nobody's laughing.

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

Here's the story from today's Berkshire Eagle:

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_204736 ... eeagle.com

Housatonic Railroad Co., which runs freight trains on the line it owns between Danbury, Conn., and Pittsfield, has declined to renew its operating agreement with Berkshire Scenic without explanation. According to Housatonic’s vice president for special projects, Colin Pease, the decision is final... Berkshire Scenic had been running trains on a two-year extension of an operating agreement through a seven-year easement granted to the State Department of Transportation by Housatonic in 2002 in exchange for $3 million in funding to maintain the tracks. The extension of the easement and the operating agreement expired on Dec. 31. Colin Pease, representing Housatonic’s president, John Hanlon, who lives in Sheffield, stated that the company "has determined that continued operation by Berkshire Scenic Railway on Housatonic-owned track is no longer possible."

Here's a nugget... Now Housatonic wants to run their ghost trains to Brewster? Over what track? Their ownership ends at the state line...

Pease, the Housatonic executive, emphasized that the breakup with Berkshire Scenic is not connected to Housatonic’s plans to seek $200 million in public and private financing to operate passenger service between Pittsfield and Danbury, connecting to the Metro North commuter line in Brewster, N.Y.

-otto-

[Rbts Stn]

So in other words, give us the financing and we'll renew Berkshire's easement. Otherwise, the scenic railroad gets it.

[Dick H]

Members of this board with long memories will recall that Mr. Pease
was an intregral part of the early days of Guilford Transportation and
was often issuing statements on how wonderful everything was going.
He also appeared at a number of public meetings, often touting big
plans by Guilford, most of which never came to pass.

It would be interesting to know if Mr. Pease's position with the HRRC
is more of a part-time "spokesman" than anything else. With locomotive
shortages, track conditions and legal and other issues, it would not seem
the HRRC would be paying him big bucks to sit behind a desk 40 hours a
week and send out press releases, now and then..

[steamer69]

Whole things sounds very fishy to me. Get rid of passenger operator so they can pocket all of the money. I feel bad for Berkshire...

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Here's a nugget... Now Housatonic wants to run their ghost trains to Brewster? Over what track? Their ownership ends at the state line...

Pease, the Housatonic executive, emphasized that the breakup with Berkshire Scenic is not connected to Housatonic’s plans to seek $200 million in public and private financing to operate passenger service between Pittsfield and Danbury, connecting to the Metro North commuter line in Brewster, N.Y.

-otto-

And to what stop? Are they going to pony up cash to MNRR to reinstate the ancient wye at Southeast? They can't pull into any platform for a transfer without a reverse move at Dykemans. They'd have to build their own station and deal with the ridership hit of making people hoof it to Southeast. Either way it's not-insubstantial capital expense. I could see that being a useful service if there were a direct platform connection to the nearest Harlem Line stop and they maybe refrained for one bloody second from pissing off MNRR. But, really, what is their deal with these fantasy passenger pitches? They have hardly any freight revenue left. They sort of need to mind that little inconvenient detail if they want to stay solvent, let alone run their own toy trains and be tellling dutiful rent-paying tenants like Berkshire Scenic to go screw.

[jaymac]

There's probably not a surplus of people named Colin Pease in this world, so if the HRRC Colin Pease is the same person who was with Guilford, it's clear the modus operandi of the Fink 1.0 regime, while not at PAR, still survives.