Here's a synopsis from a lengthy classified ad from today's Central Penn Business Journal regarding the Steartstown RR.

Surface Transportation Board (STB) Docket No. AB-1071
Notice of Intent to Abandon or to Discontinue Service
The Estate of George M. Hart (Applicant) gives notice that on or about June 15, 2011, it intends to file with the Surface Transportation board, Washington, DC 20423, an application for adverse abandonment of all the track of the Stewartstown Railroad Company (Stewartstown) extending from milepost 0.0 at New Freedom, PAS which traverses through United States Portal Service Zip Codes 17349, 17361, and 17363. There are no active stations on the track, which has been out of service for conventional freight and passenger operations for over six years.

The line has virtually no realistic prospect in the near term of becoming an outlet for rail-borne interstate commerce. Applicant has encouraged Stewartstown voluntarily to pursue liquidation of assets sufficient to satisfy its debt obligations to Applicant, but Stewartstown has been unable to secure the assistance or an investor or lender to secure repayment of its loan, and because Stewartstown has refused to take action voluntarily.

Written comments and protests should indicate the proceeding designation STB Docket No. AB 1071, and must be filed with the Chief , Section of Administration, Office of Proceedings, Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423 no later than August 1, 2011. A copy of each written comment or protest shall be served upon the representative of the applicant: Keith G. O'Brien, Baker & Miller PLLC, 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037. (202 663-7852. The original and ten copies of all comments or protests shall be filed with the board with a certificate of service.

I can assure the you executor is only doing what is required by law from his position as executor of the estate. The residuary legatee, the Bucks County Hysterical Society has rebuffed every offer brought to the table by the STRT BoD.

The proceeding can be halted at any time should the STRT show viability (an incredible long shot, but that's what a group of people down there are workin towards.).

-Micah

If Party S owes Party E money and can't/won't pay, Party E's recourse is generally through the court system to get a judgement or to try to force an involuntary bankruptcy. Why is this different? I recall there have been very few successful adverse abandonment petitions in the past.

National City Bank didn't file an abandonment petition against Penn Central all those years ago...

Nick

The real disappointment in all of this is that in the early 1990s Mr. Hart rejected all efforts to develop a plan to refinance the Stewartstown Railroad so it could pay back money he--and others--had advanced to the company at that time. Such a plan would have provided more oversight of the company's management, too.

Doesn't the fact that they recently procured railroad cars from the Hart estate and have leased cars from the B&O Museum, along with all of the open houses, track work being done, speeder rides, etc indicate that they are indeed attempting to re-open the railroad for commerce? Someone needs to step in here...

One would think such activity would be an indication of an intent to return to line to operation. But the heir to the Estate, the Bucks County Historical Society wants their money.

(By the way, the former B&O Museum cars are being leased from the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad, Inc. an independent organization. The cars were a gift from the B&O Museum to the Friends group, which is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.)

I see it difficult to abandon especially since it requires permission to abandon and there are efforts to revive the line, obviously the estate can only do what they can legally try to do. It also shows they show no interest in trying to help revive the line. If you abandon, gain a lump sum of money, all you've done is kill a railroad impossible to retrieve to life. The North Shore is impossible to bring back as it was, real estate has encroached on former right of way.

Okay. I’ve bit my tongue long enough. I may upset some people but oh well. There must not be any one serious about saving this line. There are other ways to come up with the money needed. If they were serious they would have already have saved it.
Back in 1990 we were trying to by a line. The railroad wanted money and quick. There were never any customers on the part of the line we were trying to buy so hoping for freight was impossible. We couldn’t buy the whole line the railroad deliberately sold off chunks.
The members of the 501 started a drive borrowing money in 5K 10K and in one instance 20K blocks. These loans were to be paid back in 5 years at 10% interest.
We raised the money to buy it. This is where it goes outside the box. We came up with a bingo licenses and started a twice a week bingo. I know not railroad related but does make money. Made enough to pay everyone off in 2 and half years. Then bought another chunk of the line and paid these notes off early. We also made enough money for improvements and upgrades.
P.S. we are talking about 20 miles of railroad.

Twenty years ago the U.S. and World economy were in a very different condition.
You might be surprised how many foundations and other philanthropic organizations and individuals are not taking grant applications because they are focusing on keeping their pledges already made to other organizations. Also, with high unemployment, lower wages for those who do have jobs, increasing prices for basic necessities (food, energy, etc.) folks just do not have funds they feel comfortable donating or loaning out at this time. That is why the Stewartstown Railroad Company has been trying to convince the heirs to the George Hart Estate to allow it more time to raise the funds as the economy improves.
Learn more at the Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad website: http://www.stewartstownrailroad.com

Few foundations make grants to pay off debt and it looks like Bucks County has their own $12.5 million capital & endowment campaign underway. Construction is supposed to wrap up about now and their web site lists they are about $1.2 million short of their goal. I suspect Bucks see this is an opportunity to fund about 3% of their goal - that is certainly what I would see if I was their development officer.

Perhaps Stewartstown knows someone who is interested in funding the new Buck County museum more than the railway museum and can see the benefit in helping leverage resolution?

I sounds like a tough situation and I wish the Stewartstown group the very best in resolving this.

--Richard

Devil's advocate here: let's say for the sake of argument the Stewartstown finds an angel and pays off the heirs lein........my understanding is it failed as a tourist line and has little if any freight potential - what have they won apart from the chance to continue to fight off other vultures of various kinds while having no operating potential into the forseeable future? Is there really a defensible rational plan to make the line into a sustainable proposition?

dave

With new management in place since the passing of Mr. Hart in 2008, much progress has been made in only three years.

* A business plan has been developed with the help of an experienced transportation/civic planner. This plan takes into account the location of the line in the middle of an area with much tourist traffic: Washington, DC, (with its numerous attractions), Baltimore, MD (and its Inner Harbor attractions), Gettysburg, PA (Civil War attractions), and Lancaster, PA (Pa "Dutch" attractions), are all less than a two-hour drive from Stewartstown via modern multi-lane highways (I-83 is four miles away from Stewartstown).

* Trackwork has begun (none was done from 2004 to 2008),

* Repairs to the railroad's buildings are underway.

* "Open houses" have been held during the past three years so the general public can visit the station and learn about the railroad.

* The railroad company has extended an invitation to the members of the non-profit Friends of the Stewartstown Railroad to help, on a volunteer basis, on as many projects as they wish. This, alone, is a major change from the management style of the late Mr. Hart.

Progress has been and is being made on restoring the Stewartstown Railroad. The railroad has asked the Bucks County Historical Society, the heir to Mr. Hart's estate, to be patient and allow the railroad to pay-off this debt to Mr. Hart over a five-year period. So far, the BCHS has declined this proposal.

(Maybe supporters of the BCHS would realize that a contribution to the Friends capital campaign would help both organizations by allowing the Friends to buy the lien thereby providing the BCHS with the funds they desire, and are entitled to, more quickly.) -- Ray

I suppose I'm interested in the proposed uses and projections (and basis for them) in the business plan mentioned. I don't think there's a market for another generic train ride adequate to capitalize a sizeable operation, and if the line can't be used as a way to serve other destinations since they aren't on line....well, it leaves a lot of room for wondering. I visited briefly many years ago, the scenery is nice, the railroad a great potential time machine, but that concept has failed already - and I don't know why, so maybe the new plan will work better? Hard to know without knowing about it.

I'm trying to understand why being supportive here won't backfire again a few years down the line, and nobody is providing supportable information to show otherwise.

dave

I really would love it if this railroad were to survive.

I also would really love it if the entire EBT were restored to operable condition, and we could run a replica PRR T1 and PRR M1 over Horse Shoe Curve, and if we had world peace and free beer.

Realistically and cynically:

The Stewartstown's major asset is also its liability: old-fashioned, almost-preposterous-in-2011 "Toonerville Trolley" atmosphere. As much as it's a blast to the past, I'm not sure how much of a market there is for that in the area. In addition, they don't exactly have a monopoly on that in the region--Strasburg, WK&S, Walkersville Southern, EBT, etc. There's even Muddy Creek Forks and the Ma & Pa bunch. And I remain cynical as to how much the American public in 2011 cares about "old and unique."

The Stewartstown needs some unique "hook" for it. Right off the bat, the only things I see in that regard are the unique cast-iron bridge; even the "connect to the main line" thing is done by Strasburg. If the Stewartstown could get a small steamer that the light rail could handle, that might help matters a bit. Running the more typical high-revenue producers of "first class" and "dinner on the diner" totally clashes with the rustic old-time style that makes the railroad unique, and it didn't succeed with the "Liberty Limited" trains out of New Freedom on the (more appropriate) PRR/Northern Central, either.

The business guy in me says the last, best hope for that line is as a bike trail extension of the trails between York and Baltimore, with maybe a mile or so of track in and out of Stewartstown proper preserved in situ along with a locomotive, vintage freight car or two (flat car or gondola with seats?), and a caboose. If they were to sell off a couple miles of impossible-to-get-anymore light rail to other preservation projects (provided anyone has the money to buy for narrow-gauge or whatever), or even (perish the thought) scrappers, they could possibly get enough money to pay off the vultures--I mean, heirs--carry out that preservation project and commit to a low-key, landlocked line. Of course, someone else would have to step in to save the right-of-way for a bike trail (the county?).

Please keep in mind the unique features of this "Toonerville Trolley."
Unlike many "tourist" railroads, the Stewartstown is complete. It operates on its own rails, it is not operating on a cast-off branch of a larger line (i.e., B&O, PRR, WM, Rio Grande, etc.).
Its buildings are its own, authentic buildings--not re-creations (or relocations) from other areas.
The Stewartstown served many businesses along its short 7.4 mile route. It was not a "captive" railroad serving a single business (or owned by such a business).
One of its locomotives, #9 the "Mighty Mo," was actually used on the line to haul freight prior to Hurricane Agnes flooding-out the connecting Penn Central Northern Central branch.

(Oddly, it was the rental fees earned by the then-just-purchased GE 44-tonner #10 that helped to keep the company afloat following Hurricane Agnes. Number 10 had missed its southbound PC connection the afternoon Hurricane Agnes arrived and became stranded in York. It was then rented to other railroads for several years until the Northern Central line was rebuilt from York to New Freedom, the junction point with the Stewartstown.)

-- Ray