it sounds like some steps in the right direction, it won't dissappear.

Has anyone actually laid eyes on another Salome "project," PRR 1361, lately?

[DIVES FOR BOMB SHELTER]

Travel expenses over $45,000 on the tax return? Huh?

Also note the group only has 1 voting member. I though 501(c)3s needed at least three?

Well at the end of the day I wish him luck in this project. And its a big one at that.

My concern would be the negative number at the end of the day.

And we have a winner in J3a-614. No. 1. "Nonprofit" is a misnomer, and not a synonym for running at a loss- not a business plan.


Travel expenses over $45,000 on the tax return? Huh?

Also note the group only has 1 voting member.

And our twofer winner is..cjvrr

I think it's possible to incorporate with a single individual in PA, although I'm not sure if it's kosher with PA's Bureau of Charitable Organizations. Even if perfectly legal it raises some interesting issues.

First, running a single individual non-profit provides no oversight to the individual, it's impossible to determine the validity and necessity of the 45K in travel, or anything else, Bluntly, it's impossible to determine whether or not the organization is actually working towards it's mission or for the benefit of a single unaccountable individual.

The second problem is succession in the event that single individual dies or becomes incapacitated. Even if there is a successor waiting in the wings, that individual will be removed from day to day operations and the specifics and pecularities that accompany every entity.

But wait, there's more....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rberdar/33 ... /lightbox/

Are these boxcars standard gauge? They look like it. Who owns them and is there any hope of them being salvaged and restored elsewhere?

More accurately, he is the Executive Director of the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum which owns #1361.

[pops up head]
Emphasis on the word "disappear"...............
[ducks down]

Here is an article regarding the sale from the NRHS website. It appears the sale price is $8 and EBTPA has raised $2M so far. They need to have the rest by the end of 2013. There is an address to which we can send donations. i.e. Putting our money where our mouth is!

http://www.nrhs.com/news/east-broad-top ... bisonia-pa

Okay, now we have dollar figures and target dates.

Now we need details--is this just the land, or ALL assets? Who else is involved, if anyone? Has EBTPA reached out to, and invited the participation and input of the Friends of the East Broad Top, or NRHS chapters, or anyone else--beyond "send money"?

More accurately, he is the Executive Director of the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum which owns #1361.

And somehow that brings up unpleasant memories...


also the former "managing member" of this "nonprofit".

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... 07460.html

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... ssman.html

Uh....Kovalchick's EBT = the Candy Mountain Cave?
http://kovalchickcorp.com/

Are you referring to the $83,000 worth of unspecified "other" expenses, that the payroll was less than half of the total expenses, or something else?

My only question; who else out there (including on here) would/will step up to the plate to do what he/this group is doing?

I'm not defending, I'm asking a honest question. We all know its make it or break it for the EBT. The way things are going... its clearly 50/50 chance.

I did notice that revenues doubled in one year...that's not a bad sign of what is possible (in terms of the fact that they CAN draw people to a Railroad "in the middle of nowhere" in greater numbers), its a shame that the K's didn't want to put the effort into doing that over the last 10 years. The non profit spent $53,000 on advertising, or nearly 25% of the prior years revenues...that's pretty impressive, all things considering. They also paid out $92,000 in Royalties (assuming for the Thomas Event).

I agree there are a lot of questionable actions and numbers, but the reality is, if this doesn't pan out, I doubt we will ever see them turn a wheel again.

That's a fair question.

Another "fair question" is whether anyone else would have received a favorable reaction from the Kovalchick family had they attempted such a "step up to the plate." My impression is that not anyone, not even any devoted and proven preservationist, would have been accorded an opportunity to make any kind of purchase, even if the cash were there.

Oh, here it comes.

Do you realize that all the bad stuff said here in this thread... could be said about ANYONE who dares to venture on any enterprise about ANYTHING.

It's not like Roy Kroc smote the ground and up sprung a McDonalds, fully developed with name recognition and an unbeatable business model. No sir, for every McDonalds there's a thousand Stuckeys, Big Boy, Bill Knapp's, Doggie Diner, Uno's Pizzeria, Borders, Clothestime, Hudson's, Wanamakers, Woolworths etc. etc. that didn't make it. And that is normal. And good on them for going out there and trying, because without them there'd be no jobs at all except for the government.

I live in San Francisco. We lose restaurants everyday. Bagdad Cafe didn't survive the Iraq war. "Moosehead sticker on a cadillac", ha -- try a Target sign on the Metreon!

You know Ayn Rand... there's the Producers, and the Leeches... Producing, by nature, comes with RISK. You cluck your tongues at the guy who failed, as if you're better -- yeah, you never failed because you never VENTURED. So what worth is your expertise on venturing? Hmm? Cowards throw darts.

Yeah, so they got blindsided by a huge critical problem on 1361... did YOU see that coming? Were you one of those rare visionaries going "Crownsheet, guys, check that Form IV, Crownsheet, hello, is anyone listening" back in 2001 or so when it would have mattered? Noooooo.... NOBODY saw that coming... and sometimes that happens, and this is the nature of venture.

OH MY GOD his restaurant failed. Because he is the first and only person to ever have a restaurant fail, and all restaurant failures are only due to incompetence. Next will be hearing that it's easy to make money in the airline business.

I don't know the guy, I don't know if there's some huge backstory about why we should hate him (OMG, a guy who's hard to get along with at a railroad musuem, that's a first!!!) but certainly nothing on this thread condemns him at all.

If I were running a venture, I'd take a guy whose restaurants failed over a guy who sits in his underwear in front of a computer.