BELFAST, Maine — The city has notified the Brooks Preservation Society, operator of an excursion railroad on the former Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad line, that it does not intend to renew the nonprofit group’s lease, which expires Dec. 1.
The city owns the 3-mile portion of the 33-mile-long right of way that lies within Belfast, which is the end of the line.
City Manager Joe Slocum told city councilors earlier this month that under the terms of the lease, the city had to notify the preservation society of its intent by Nov. 1. If it failed to do so, the one-year lease would automatically renew for another year.
The city has been working for several years to establish a pedestrian path on the railroad right of way. Though state funding for the project has been secured, Gov. Paul LePage’s recent decision to push back the selling of bonds until next year has affected the city’s plans to build the walkway.
No time has been set for construction to begin, Jennika Lundy, assistant to the city manager said Tuesday.
Slocum plans to meet with representatives of the preservation society next week to discuss terms of a new lease. Lundy said a new lease might take the form of a month-to-month arrangement, giving the city flexibility should it be possible to begin construction on short notice.
Joe Feero, president of the Brooks Preservation Society, said the move did not surprise him.
“I understand it,” he said Tuesday. “It’s not a shock to me.”
The group wants to keep operating trains along the stretch from the harbor northwest along the Passagassawakeag River because “that’s the most scenic part of our ride,” Feero said. But his group will not fight the city on the lease change.
“The goal for us has always been to work with the city,” he said.
At the same time, he said the railroad wants to run along the river for as long as it can, since the trail work has not been scheduled.
This summer, the railroad ran excursion trips on weekends from the old upper bridge area on High Street north of downtown Belfast.
Feero calculates the railroad carried 6,755 passengers this year, up from 2,255 last year. Included in this year’s count are 30 bus tours that each brought about 50 people to the city to ride the train. The total number also includes 3,000 people carried to the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity.
Feero cited a study that shows the railroad contributes about $1 million annually to the local economy.
Mack Page, a former employee of the B&ML Railroad who in recent years built a siding at the City Point part of Belfast where rail cars and engines are stored, is working with the preservation society, he said Tuesday. Page said he and the preservation society have discussed having the excursions leave from his siding area when the pathway is built.
The city must initiate the process of railbanking before removing rails and ties and building a pathway. That process is undertaken through a provision of federal law, seeking approval from the Surface Transportation Board.
Foliage trips are planned for Oct. 13-14, which run from the upper bridge station to Waldo and back. On Oct. 20, a special run is scheduled from the upper bridge station in Belfast to Brooks and back, with a stop at Brooks Station, where hot cider and snacks will be served.
And on Oct 27, the Toys for Tots group is collaborating with the railroad. Anyone bringing a toy to donate rides free. Trains leave at 9:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. from City Point.
Gee, the RR only brought in about $1M to Camden North-er-Belfast. No wonder the city wants to convert the tracks to a walkway- probably will bring in over $100M per year. No brainer, folks!
Hoping your post is sarcastic! (Not sure, though. There are some rail-trail nuts out there).
This is a very short-sighted decision by the City of Belfast. It has a willing operator of the railroad, and this operator is (essentially) being evicted just as their ridership and economic contribution is increasing.
I’m a hiker and a cyclist, but even I think this is a really dumb move by the City.
Just to clarify: Yep, Im not a rail-trail nut. Just seems a shame to take out a viable tourist attraction for a government subsidized walkway. We got one in Washington County, and were told that they would rebuild the RR tracks if deemed it was economically feasible.We were also told it would bring in “big bucks” from the people using the walkway and unemployment would disappear from the spin off jobs.. Yeah,right! And I have some ocean front property in Phoenix on the market! Sarcastic? Bet your— !
Tearing out infrastructure to put in a walking path. Great job Belfast! Way to cut yourself out of inter-modal transportation like your comprehensive plan says! The rest of the state is working to increase trade via rail, and MILLIONS of dollars are being spent to upgrade track, and you want to disconnect Belfast from the rest of the state’s rail traffic. What a waste of money! At least nobody in Belfast has problems affording their taxes, SPEND AWAY!
The train stopped coming right into the city back in 2006. I don’t see it benefiting the downtown now with the way it begins out in the middle of nowhere. I like trains as much as anybody but the current use for both the rail and the rail trail is only for tourism, there is no commercial train use. So really the argument right now is-will the rail trail or the tourist train attract more people and money to the area. Rail banking will protect the rail corridor should a viable use become available in the future. Not very likely seeing how that downtown harbor area is too valuable and expensive to have a business dependant on rail service.
Just what we need! Another coastal city that doesn’t PRODUCE anything and caters only to well-heeled visitors! Brilliant!
The Brooks group performs all rail maintenance itself voluntarily – with the exception of some minor Maine DOT assistance each year. Leaving the tracks in place just makes sense, for both present and future uses.
Oh, and I might add, I think downtown property is “too valuable and expensive” to waste on massive amounts of asphalt for parking lots and unnecessarily extra-wide streets. But that’s another issue…
I don’t see how you can say that-the new shipyard is providng jobs for about 100 people. That’s right where the train came into town. The decision to stop using the train for commercial use was made by the marketplace many years ago and has nothing to do with the city or the council. Chances are the rail trail will be used by more locals than tourists but I have been on many of these types of trails all around the country and they do bring in tourists and business. My family all worked for B & M railroad and my dad retired from there with a great pension so I am a “train nut” but it’s not the citys’ fault that this thing is in the shape it’s in. “Extra wide streets’? Have you ever been to Belfast? The community has done a great job in difficult times bringing new-good jobs to town. The question is-what’s best for the town now- a tourist train that starts a mile from downtown or a rail trail that will connect to the harbor walk. All the nostalgia about the original use for the train is misplaced. Who else would perform rail maintenance except for the people using the track-I hope you aren’t implying the taxpayer should pay for that-also I’ve walked that rail bed and the fact is there are places there that are not maintained and it could look a lot better.
The railroad and the City Council had no control over events that led up to the fall of commercial use of the railroad. When the owner of Penobscot Poultry passed away the family liquidated. Shortly after that the Sardine industry left. The railroad decided to try the tourist market. In the 90s freight returned briefly via Crow Rope. However Crow Rope could not compete with China. The City seized the opportunity to get the railroad’s waterfront property when millionaire Bert Clifford moved the railroad Unity to get away from City politics and to develop Unity. The operation in Unity produced decent numbers but the railroad employed everyone and the overhead was high.
I think the community of Belfast has done well considering difficult times. However I would like the City to embrace both rail and walking trail. Together they will benefit the City. The trail has no supporting data to demonstrate the economic benefit. The City has no visitor data. Any advantage of a trail over rail is not clear. The railroad presents data. The fact is the railroad costs the City no money. The fact is the trail will be built from grants. Whether revenue for trail comes from local, State, or Federal sources which are all tax payer dollars. To indicate that the trail will be free in maintenance is inaccurate. The Sunrise trail employs a State worker 40K a year (benefits not included) who oversees the trail.
For those like Simoneau who claim the railroad receive copious amount of tax payer dollars. The railroad receives help from DOT on occasion on the State owned part. Usually a week a year from my research. The State lease, which is public document, provides that the railroad bears the all costs. The City of Belfast has a similar lease but doe snot provide support in any way from tax dollars. From public addresses the railroad prides itself in not asking for funding from the City.
Tour buses staying at the local hotels and eating at local restaurants. That doesn’t help the downtown? What (besides the Celtic festival) draws large amounts of people in concentration to Belfast? Nothing. I’m not speaking badly about the trail. I think trails and rail are beneficial to the City. It just seems that if the City wasn’t in a hurry to get the trail started they could come up with a plan to allow rail riders and trail people to enjoy the scenery. If the City actiy helps to market the railroad in its marketing people will drive.
Alaska had its bridge to nowhere boondoggle. Belfast will have it trail to nowhere boondoggle.
It also has it’s “Million Dollar Footbridge To Nowhere” as well…It even opens to provide non existent boat traffic access to the mud flats beyond..Belfast WANTS to cut itself out of the loop..They even wanted to ban motorcycles and put up signs at entrances to the city proclaiming it..Threats of boycuts stopped it for now but I bet it will be re-visited this winter when bikers aren’t around..Ripping up the tracks for a few old hippies to walk their mutts to let them crap everywhere is par for the course in Belfast..LOL…
Ah Yes. The million dollar footbridge. Doesn’t that go from West Belfast to East Belfast?
Before the City (or the State for that matter) renews ANY lease, they should ask several questions of them.
(1) WHO has the federal licensing and proper training as engineers and conductors? Or do they let just any of their volunteers operate the equipment?
(2) The operator should provide COMPLETE FINANCIAL RECORDS before a lease is signed. By law they are public. Their Executive Director (is he paid or unpaid, by the way), has made outrageous claims of ridership. How many of them are paid and how many are club members who ride for free? The BPS leases their Rail Bike depot from one of their own officers. How many other inappropriate payments do they make?
(3) BPS’ tax returns (as a non-profit they are public) show hundreds of thousands of dollars of “private loans” to them. Go to http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder/ and type in “Brooks Preservation Society” under organization and “04921” under zip. Click on the various years and you’ll see the redacted returns.
(4) A complete list of members of the organization. How many are local, how many are somewhere far away?
(5) Ask for some support to Mr. Feero’s outrageous claim of contributing $1,000,000 to the economy of Belfast. Like so many things we hear in this election year, if you say it enough, some folks will believe you.
(6) Have them take you along the REST of the line and explain the piles of junk along the route. Since they claim to operate the entire line, what do they do in Brooks, Unity and Thorndike? Ask the merchants and abutting landowners what kind of “contribution” BPS makes. I am an abutter and have experienced issues firsthand and have heard the complaints and problems of many others.
(7) For those people who claim that removing the rail is removing infrastructure: there has not been a profitable operation of this railroad almost since its creation. Check the histories online. And since the State Supreme Court recently ruled that the State CAN take up the tracks and still retain ownership of the Right Of Way for other purposes (trails, fiber optic cable lines, whatever may be needed in 20 years), continuing to subsidize the operation of a private club’s train set is not rationals.
(8) As they go to zero based budgeting, the State should look at how many man-hours, machine hours and materials have been put into track repairs. BPS has photos on their Facebook page of DOT crew and equipment working along the line. Why are we wasting taxpayer monies? Or does BPS reimburse the State?
I am certain I will receive strongly worded comebacks from anonymous screen names who are part of the club. But since the taxpayers heavily subsidize this private club through income and property tax breaks connected to their “non-profit status, open the door for more taxpayer funded grants to them under the SAME status and provide extensive capital outlay in the form of man-power, materials and equipment and the use of a public resource that could be utilized much better, then the non-profit needs to explain exactly what they contribute, not just provide unsubstantiated figures and smoke & mirror explanations.
So how do you really feel about the train? Seriously-good points made-I love trains and if the thing actually came right into the city like it did in 2006 I think it might be a different story. I don’t see how it contributes much of anything to the local economy when it’s based out in the middle of nowhere. It’s odd that so many people on here don’t think the city should spend a dime on the rail trail but completely overlook the subsidy the train gets by operating over a public way, not to mention the DOT work at the crossings. There is a mess along the rail bed but I don’t know who is responsible for that-I would think the train people would keep it picked up though.
Thanks. Most of these points are to a larger question. It is our goal to work with the RR in Belfast and keep them viable. There is room for a rail and a trail and it will work better for all.
Thank you Mr. Simoneau for your false claims, unsupported remarks, and demonstrating that you did not do your research. Are you a self proclaimed expert of railroad rules and laws? You make it sound as if someone is doing something wrong. In the last posting regarding the railroad you ranted about the railroad, you displayed ignorance on calcluating the scrap value of rail! I doubt you know much about railroads. Show us how many dollars are put into the railroad from the tax payers? I”m sure that minds much more intelligent then you have already asked questions and were satisfied with the answers. It really does not matter what information you receive as you will not be satisifed. Read your histroy of the B&ML, the railraod has been very profitable. http://www.cprr.org/Museum/BMLRR/. Mr. Cooper is a widely known author and very credible. And as far as anyone providing unsubstantied figures and smoke mirror explanations I think you fit the profile.
At best, the comments by duke___ below sadly reflect an uniformed individual.
All Railroads have and do conform to Federal Railroad Adminstration standards.
Casting dispursions is what is a waste of the people’s time and resources.
And State of Maine safety standard, and DEP requirements, and local City Codes. If the BML is like any other tourist railroad I know of most of their volunteers are retired railroad people who worked for major railroad like Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and the local railroads like Pan am and the MMA. No one can argue the certification of a person who spent 35-40 years working in the rail industry. I know one of their volunteer Engineers was a trainer for Engineers and Conductors on the Maine Central RR in the day. I highly doubt that person would allow any “rail fan” to operate any locomotive without supervision and test for comptence. Retired railroad people take their industry experience/reputation seriously.