Hi Folks,

I have been asked to post the following information about an important meeting to be held in Bridgton tomorrow. The meeting could have significant impact regarding the town's bid to host an new venue for the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, currently located in Portland, Maine.

THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!!! This has led to a larger conference room being scheduled for the event. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO CAN ATTEND, THE STRONGER THE MESSAGE!!!

Here is a copy of the meeting announcement:

The Town of Bridgton Office of Economic & Community Development
requests your participation in a
Strategic Phase I Forum

“Broad Range Action
for the
Narrow Gauge Railroad”
Monday, August 8th
2:30PM – 4:00PM
Bridgton Town Office, BOS Room

The Directors of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad are at a critical decision-making milestone regarding the proposed relocation of the MNGRR Museum & Restoration/Preservation Yard. Bridgton has been officially notified that we are one of the finalist communities under consideration. Now is the time to join our civic, community, commercial & organizational resources together in our bid to successfully bring the Historic Narrow Gauge Railroad back home to Bridgton, Maine!

We propose a two-phase Forum process; Phase I Forum will provide the core local civic & organizational groups proper opportunity to communicate their perspective, position and level of commitment to the Narrow Gauge Railroad relocating in Bridgton. Phase II Forum will provide local property owners on or along the proposed railway right-of-way to communicate their perspective, position and interest in the Narrow Gauge Railroad line operating in Bridgton.
Both Forums are open to the general public and there will be a Public Comment Period provided at each Forum.

Invited Participants
The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
Return of the Rails, Inc.
Bridgton Board of Selectmen
Greater Bridgton Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce
Bridgton Historical Society
Bridgton Community Development Committee
Bridgton Economic Development Corporation
Bridgton Comprehensive Plan Committee

For additional information & detail please contact Alan S. Manoian, Director of Economic & Community Development, Town of Bridgton, ME at 207.647.8786 or ecodevdir@bridgtonmaine.org or Bridgton Office of Economic & Community Development on FACEBOOK.

Here is a copy of the meeting agenda:

Broad Range Action
for the
Narrow Gauge Railroad

AGENDA
Monday, August 8th
2:30PM – 4:00PM


* Welcoming Remarks
(Town Manager)


* Review of Request for Proposal (RFP) &
Bridgton Response to Proposal
(Dir. of Economic & Community Development)


* Status of Community Selection Process
(Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Representative)


* Open Forum for Comment & Discussion


* Direction/Consensus on Next Steps

* Closing Remarks
(Town Manager)


If you have any questions about attending, please contact the town as indicated at the bottom of the announcement document.


If you require additional information about the proposals to be discussed, copies of the Maine Narrow Gauge Request For Proposal and Bridgton's RFP Response may be found on the Return of the Rails website located here:
http://www.returnoftherails.com/


Sincerely,
Glenn Christensen[/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list]

The meeting results were not auspicious.

There will be more to come on this, later in the week.


Sincerely,
Glenn Christensen

The latest ...


http://www.bridgton.com/narrow-gauge-forum-airs-pros-cons/

http://www.bridgton.com/selectmen-will-hold-meeting-for-public-on-narrow-gauge-railroad/

Best Regards,
Glenn

http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/main ... turn-rails

This doesn't look good for going to Bridgton.

Sometimes when you read local articles and reader comments you tend to think they are out of step and exaggerating their position. But in this case most of the posters sound reasonable. It appears the MNG Museum people just came asking for a place and money and no plan. It doesn't sound like the local people asked for anything ridiculous - a basic business plan is a must.

I have visited the museum in Portland twice over the last 5 years as they have a priceless collection from the nation's most unique railroad subgroup - the Maine 2 ft gauge railroads. I have gone away sad each time seeing the collection as the viewing areas are not kept clean nor well lit and frankly the staff (I don't know if they are volunteers or paid) clearly don't know what they are talking about or are not interested in human interaction. Perhaps the people running the train are better, I missed it both times I was there. In contrast you can feel the history and excitement at both the WW&F and the Sandy River setup.

I fear for what happens if they get kicked out of Portland and from reading about what happened in Bridgton it sounds like we are likely to find out the hard way.

Dear Observer -

I understand the basis for your comments.

Please consider that roughly one year ago, the dissatisfaction of the volunteer staff on a number of issues, including those you cite and extending to other, less obvious, matters like the lack of input into the preservation process, ill-advised organizational priorities, and non-representative governance, caused the MNG volunteer staff to take control.

MNG is now under completely new leadership and the volunteers are actively trying to redress the issues that have plagued the organization in the past. Everything remains a work in progress, but there have been some notable changes and successes in the past year.

So I humbly request, if you have not visited MNG in the past year, please reserve judgment.

I should also note the need to relocate all or part of the collection to a more suitable site and was evident even under the old regime. The present site cannot be made secure, the market rate for site rental is astronomical, and the museum has very little leeway in improving or expanding its current infrastructure.

At this juncture, MNG continues to work with the folks in Bridgton and other locations to find the optimal fit. As would be expected when working with any municipality, things are not always clear or even as they seem.

Whatever happens, you cannot fault and, given your tone in previous postings, would probably applaud any group like MNG that is seriously trying to turn itself around. You are showing an appropriate level of concern for the future of the MNG collection and I would expect no less from any concerned preservationist.


Sincerely,
Glenn Christensen

I wish I could find on the web the original RFP prepared by MNG, and proposal prepared by Bridgton. I never saw the proposal by Gray.

I remember feeling like the original RFP asked a lot of the town, both in a short timeline for preparation, resources for the museum, and a right of way to operate a ride It was not too specific, or perhaps not specific enough, about what was the most important or very much needed aspects. Perhaps this was intentional to see what, if any, options they might be given.

In the Bridgton response, there was much that I would have hoped to have in a future museum site, with one major exception. A guarantee of longevity. They were given a 5-year low rate lease, then they could expect rental increases. Perhaps this would be acceptable, but as R. MacDowell often points out in discussion here, land ownership is a proven key to success for any railroad museum. I can see the in the Bridgton response, trepidation at giving away the land resources to an unknown outsider, with no guarantee that an honest effort will be made to create the promised economic (steam) engine.

This was voiced again more clearly at the public meeting, and came as no surprise to me. I don't believe the town is against the railroad, but they need to be convinced that they are serious, and that there is a good chance this will succeed. And then at the same time, perhaps some might be enlightened how the B&H/B&SR railroad trains, returned to their homeland, can be a source of local pride. For some reason, they think the Maine Narrow Gauge has only 4 pieces of equipment from this line!

To me, it seems that the upcoming public meeting is a major opportunity for the MNG to state its case. I think it also needs to be clear about the idea of a satellite museum site. Will the main museum be at Bridgton (or Grays etc) and the satellite at Portland? Is Portland just to be a tourist choo choo that might as well operate with a Chance CP Huntington set from a zoo? These are important points in the business plan. At this meeting, MNG can also lay out what it needs at a bottom line to decide to move.

Having introduced this news to the forum a while back, I felt I should at least make a comment about it. Good luck to MNG and Bridgton. In my book, I would abandon Portland all together (unless it can be profitably operated with mostly paid staff), and then focus the volunteers at Bridgton. At the town, a temporary site would be OK to house the equipment in the near term. In a long term vision, the volunteers and village could jointly develop a permanent museum on the site of the school property, which the non-profit would owning through some sort of mortgage arrangement, or have a lease which might last at least a lifetime, with some guarantee of renewal. The vision for a train ride on at least 3/4 mile, and someday up to 5 miles, would also make for a long term future that would motivate the volunteers. And perhaps, the community as well.

Latest news is that the MNG relocation team is engaging in talks with the town of Gray to come up with a business plan. Bridgton is on the back burner.
http://www.bridgton.com/out-of-the-running-narrow-gauge-museum-selects-gray/

I have been asked if I knew more details about the move to Gray, and I am afraid to say all I have ever known as fact about these things result from clearly written internet searches. But since I was curious myself, I did another search and found a fairly revealing set of stories which tell a bit about the dynamic going on with a move, or that perhaps one is not going to happen. I am not a fan of on-going drama and wish some more clear answers will arise one day. Read for yourself and digest.
http://munjoyhillnews.com/?s=narrow+gauge

Well it appears the "Return of the Rails" project at Bridgton Maine is now the "Farewell to Rails." Two guest cars from the MNGRR Museum in Portland are returning to their collection and leaving the display track in Bridgton. The author of the article below states:


http://www.bridgton.com/news-comment-farewell-to-the-rails/