Wow. Somewhere the Claytors and Bill Purdie are smiling. Great news.

Wesley

And Frank Collins.

EXCELLENT news.

Great news, very exciting! I was beginning to wonder on the fundraising status, I had heard a rumor that they weren't receiving as many donations as they were expecting.

Have they passed the time limit of when they could've had it ready for the 2014 season?

Exciting news!

We're living in promising times indeed, genetlemen.
I doubt that the 2014 season is plausible at this point. I can hold out another year with no problems, we've already waited about 20 as it is.

From what I have heard is that if they meet the deadline for the fundraiser (October 31, 2013 which they have) the 611 will be moved to when funds are completly secured to NCTM for overhaul for the 2014 or 2015 (again when all funds are secured) excursion season. Oh and YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS

Is there something missing here?

I re-read the post again. The engine is staying at the museum until funds are available for the maintenance facility. That means the engine isn't going to NCTM anytime soon to be rebuilt.

It's bit of a sliding scale by VMT to say in June "get the money to us by October to restore 611 for 2014", and now say, "we'll just wait until we have funds for the repair facility".

The fundraising was groundbreaking, but the public relations are a bit disasterous.

Even in the initial realease this was vague but now it's alot more clear.

They've raised between $500k and $750k.

611 isn't going anywhere until they raise ANOTHER $2 million to $2.5 million.

This release states enough funds were raised but it doesn't mention how much was raised. You could assume that the total thus far is at least $500,000 but it doesn't say for sure.

So while I am ready to get excited about 611's return to steam, I'm just not understanding when or where or how much more is needed before that might happen.

Where am I missing it?

Not to be a downer here, but it says the locomotive will not move and remain at the VMT until the remainder of the funds have been raised. It took this long to reach the first goal, imagine how long it will take to raise the remaining millions. It could be a long while before it gets to run.

Long? Given a goal of 500K for this phase has been exceeded in a few months, I'd not call this long........I think it demonstrates what a professional fund raising program for a well articulated and supportable goal can achieve. Very few of the rest of us if any have done so well..........

My hat's off to them.

dave

And that's the point.

The problem with VMT's reasoning is many people donated funds on the theory 611 would operate in 2014 if the $500,000-$700,000 was raised as VMT Executive Director Bev Fitzpatrick stated by October 31. Now that these monies are raised, the wait and see philosophy won't sit well with those who gave for a 2014 operation.

Its VMT's engine and they can do what they want, but they lost some credibility with donors with this PR debacle.

Well, yeah, but do you really think that they can just keep plugging away with those numbers? As other have already pointed out, this is going to tick people off who thought that a specific amount by a specific date = restoration starts, then get told, "no wait, we haven't built the building yet, give all over again."
It's almost a safe bet that most of those who were going to give, gave already. I don't think it's realistic to say, "okay, let's do this all over again for the building" and get the same results again.

It's not as if only fans are asked to donate to this. From what information is being given to me by the museum, negotiations are taking place with big donors as well. The identity of these donors and how much they might donate are being kept quiet at this time, by request. I have heard that the museum staff are confident the requested money will be raised, so I can only speculate what is being negotiated might be some big numbers. But a great deal of paperwork and other details have to be handled before any money changes hands, and that has provided some delay to the project. I have and will continue to ask my 611 Facebook discussion group to continue the donations, and I and a few others have been distributing Fire Up 611 brochures, at railroad museums, hobby shops and the like. Hopefully, as negotiations continue behind the scenes with big donors and the general donations continue from fans, tg fundraising effort might get quicker as more people are informed about the project.
lois

Which of course should have been up front and transparent by the VMT Executive Director in June. Its a breach of trust.

I am not a member of the "Fire Up 611 Committee", and have no insider information about what is going on, nor will I voice an opinion one way or the other about how the campaign has been handled. I will offer the following observations.

It is customary in large fund raising campaigns for the organization to have approached potential "big" donors first, before doing a public campaign. Frequently, said potential donors may offer a matching pledge, contingent upon other funds being raised. This may be a public or private pledge, depending upon the wishes of the donor. If it is a private pledge, the organization cannot publicize these pledges.

Also, many donors wait until towards the end of the calendar year to make donations, as this is the most advantageous from the standpoint of fund availability vs. tax write offs.

Regardless of your opinion of the handling of the campaign, they have raised at least $500,000 publicly since June. That in and of itself is pretty impressive. How many of you here can say the same? This is still a very dynamic situation. I think we will see further developments soon.