This is a local group that needs help, since they apparently are getting shafted by Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

For those not familiar with the Old Colony & Newport RR, OCNRR, they are a non-profit group that does excursion rides down the west coast of Aquidneck Island (Newport RI and north), approximately 10 miles long. IIRC, they have 3 operational locomotives (44 & 45 tonners), 2 restored coaches, a flat car and 2 cabooses. They have been in existence for 25 years, all by volunteer labor and effort. Currently they are the only volunteer group in New England offering year round tourist train rides. Also they have been heavily involved with the local fairs, events, and celebrations in the Newport area.

From what I have been told, RIDoT in no uncertain terms has stated that the Non-Profit (501-c3) OCNRR cannot operate the Newport secondary independent of the Newport Dinner Train (which they have been for 25 years and 3 versions of the NDT), and must become a functional part of the NDT, or close down, by November 19th 2004. All charters must be arraigned through NDT, NDT decides fare rates, OCNRR Volunteers will be mandated to work 500 volunteer hours for NDT, OCNRR must pay 30-60 dollars per trip on the line to NDT. Basically RIDoT is forcing the 25 year old OCNRR to become a division of the 8 year old NDT. Also OCNRR will be banned from operating during Easter, Mother’s and Father’s days and the June 9th-19th, basically their highest revenue dates.

This mandate by RIDoT may force OCNRR to relinquish their 501-C3 status, since their collected funds will be going to a for profit entity.

Also RIDoT has basically reclaimed ownership of the depot building that OCNRR has Restored, Upgraded, Repaired and Maintained for the last 25 years, placing a cease and desist order on needed repairs and maintenance to the building. Canopy was struck by an unknown tall truck, damaging the supports, which also turn out to have been weakened by rot.

OCNRR has been trying to correct this injustice with the RIDoT for a while, but the public release has just happened.

I am only relating the information presented to me, for clarifications, please contact either Peter Martin of Stacy House designs or ONCRR.

Regards,

Rich C.



http://www.OCNRR.com OCNRR Home page

http://www.stacyhouse.com/ocnrr_mainpage.htm Stacy House designs, OCNRR Page

http://www.stacyhouse.com/chamber.htm Power point presentation about this issue, needs internet explorer to run

Without knowing anything but what I have read below, but having the experience of investigating two cases of government vs. preservation issues in the past year - I raise a skeptical eye to the claim that ONCRR is not without some responsibility in this.

This is not to say that ONCRR does not have a legitimate claim. However, If they and their supporters want to have meaningful public input I suggest that they make available on-line the correspondence between them and RIDoT. If the ONCRR's claims are valid it will be revealed through the documents. Moreover, having access to the facts will allow supporters to formulate more insightful comments and/or point to a possible compromise to the solution.

While I have sympathy for the ONCRR and its volunteers - sympathy alone is worthless in disputes such as these.

Let's see: the Georgetown Loop Railroad operator loses their lease to a third party, the long-time operator out of Jim Thorpe, PA, loses their lease to a third party, and now it appears the Old Colony is about to lose their lease to a third party.

Is this the beginning of a national trend that may well dampen rail enthusiasts appetites to preserve and operate lines that they do not own?

Will this, perhaps, mean that once a rail enthusiasts group successfully demonstrates the viability of a government-owned low density or dormant line the line owner will treat it as "market research" and look for a higher-paying lessee? Hmmm -- Ray

We pay politians LOTS of money to handle these problems. Take it to every level and seek help. If it is as it appears, help can be found.

Jim

I don't think it is fair to lump this one in with Jim Thorpe and Georgetown Loop. The other two are privately owned operations and the folks in Newport are a non-profit.

The Jim Thorpe situation is one that is a tough call. Hart has been there forever and done a lot of good but when you go there to see and ride the train you can see it was lacking. A lot more could be done there and it was not happening. What the R&LHS is doing is a just a sad ugly mess.

I am sure in Georgetown there was a lot going on that we all don't know about. If the former operators really wanted they could have put a bid in for the next contract but they chose not to. They are a profit making business and must have made a profit to stay there for as long as they stayed. It does seem that the CHS is cutting off the nose to spite the face.

I am sure there is more to the Newport issue but from here it seems that they have had several operators try and fail to make it with dinner trains and are trying to force the non-profit to prop up the profit making business. This is not a good situation.

Tom Gears

This enthusiat's appetite for that doesn't need dampening. I've long believed that any group that doesn't own their own track is looking for trouble. Something similar happened with the Charlotte Trolley -- the volunteers built up the business and then basically got the boot.

If you're going to run trains, do everything you can to OWN YOUR TRACK!!! If you don't, eventually somebody will try to throw you off, most likely successfully.

Add Cumberland to the list. Jack Showalter got run out of town by the local politicos and business interests that wanted control of the line.

Rob

A big AMEN to that statement. Without ownership of the track, one is like the proverbial one armed man in the old "you know what" contest!

Throughout much of the northeast (and in a few other places in the US) the only reason that branchlines such as these survived is because they were purchased by State DOTs or other branches of government - many with funds provided through federal programs originating with the creation of Conrail. Shortlines and tourist railroads operate over these lines under contract with the respective owner. Broadly speaking, government ownership is the only reason these lines have survived - as it opens opporunities for state support infrastructure maintenance and improvements. Moreover, the operator is not responsible for property taxes - which they would be if they owned the line outright. Many states are trying to sell their railroads at net salavage value (including property). However in many cases current operators are just breaking even and can not come close to affording the purchase price -- how many millions do you think all that waterfront property in Rhode Island is worth?

So again, without knowing the facts of this case we can only conjecture as to the root causes of the dispute.

Tom,
You bring up a very valid point. Here in Maryland, during the past week, it was revealed that our state leaders are reassessing how much land is really needed for all the state parks we have. The thinking is some of this land might be better off in private hands as hotels, housing developments, etc., bringing in tax revenues.

Now, I wonder, regarding government-owned dormant rail lines, if government officials, here and elsewhere, will take another look at the rail-trails. Perhaps they would decide some r-t's would better serve the populace as taxable development land. -- Ray

Tom,

You bring up an excellent point. Combined with a reduction of federal taxes, rising state taxes and - at least in my area - sky rocketing property taxes, you have a cycle where government's search for the buck is coming home.

The willingness to sell out anything in exchange for retail space and the associated tax boost is, in part, part of the appeal of the following proposed projects:

St. Johnsbury, VT wants the active railyard in town gone to build box stores and a river walk.

Pen Argyl, PA shops of the LNE are to be bulldozed and turned into box stores, including Mal*Wart.

Rutland, VT and Burlington, VT want the active Vermont Railway yards in those towns relocated to other areas so that the downtown land can be developed.

To their credit, Bethlelhem, PA folks have fought to keep their defunct steelmill from becoming the row of box stores that sprouted up in Homestead, PA when that mill closed, but it hasn't been easy and it hasn't been without conceeding some parts to non-manufacturing development.

Scranton, PA sacrificed perhaps the greatest surviving single row of circa-1900 dwontown structures in America and the Lackwanna mainline at the time Steamtown was being built, so that a larger shopping mall could be built.

I could go on, but I am sure you get the drift.

It's a bigger problem, and one I'd gladly discuss over a Yeungling vs. here on RYPN, but these places and railroads we care about are in the cross-hairs, make no mistake about it.

One way to change it might be for those of us who care about such things to start getting our tails elected to office. How many museums and tourist roads boast members on local elected boards and offices? Have benefits been realized?

Rob

For a while, SCRM had the local Mayor on our Board. Granted this was the reverse of what you're talking about -- we got an existing local leader on our board instead of getting one of our own into local politics. However, the result was a dismal failure -- when we needed his help, he cried "conflict of interest" and resigned from the Board. This gentleman is still Mayor and does aid the Museum (the Town gives us a nice donation each year), but the sort of help we were looking for never materialized.

I wonder, if a museum did get someone on a local governmental body, would it really be a conflict of interest?

I'm not a lawyer, only a museum member and politician. I could recuse (abstain) from voting to avoid a conflict, but I could still speak and testify to tell others in government about the museum's situation. Informing fellow polititians about how much in taxes the museum's visitors bring into the area is one example of helping the museum without causing a conflict of interest.

To the Friends of the Old Colony & Newport Railway:

The community support for saving the Old Colony & Newport Railway has been both overwhelming and heartwarming!

Many of our community leaders have made attempts to intervene in this decision which was made by the RIDOT management. Some of the information on which RIDOT has based its decision was simply erroneous. We are making efforts to provide them with accurate information [such as certifying to them that the OCNRR is properly insured - one of the OCNRR largest expenses is the insurance policy].

The community leaders know that the OCNRR has worked for 25 years to keep the Newport Secondary line open for future use. Many hours of volunteer labor are spent each year on clearing brush and picking up the trash. The OCNRR works each year with the local City Year program and the Newport Clean Cities program to clean the track of the accumulated trash.

OCNRR is a volunteer, 501(c)3 charitable organization. It is run by the nicest, selfless group on men with whom I have ever had the privilege of working.

The interest level in this issue is extremely high. The hit counter on my website www.stacyhouse.com has gone wild. There are emails coming to me from all over the United States. People cannot believe that a charitable organization would be forced to report to, and provide volunteer [non-paid] labor for the benefit of a commercial business.

I wish for nothing but the best for the Newport Dinner Train. Whatever plans the current operator of that commercial entity has will be review by the proper community boards and legislative bodies in due time.

Meanwhile, the Old Colony & Newport Railway is committed to keeping the Newport Secondary Line available for the 'best use' of the Aquidneck Island communities.

Thank you all for your overwhelming support of the Old Colony & Newport Railway and for your kind words.

Peter Martin

PS: to get the latest information on this issue, go to the Old Colony Railway section of www.stacyhouse.com, then click on 'Future in Question'.
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Stacy House Designs
One Willow Street
Newport, RI 02840
(401) 965 6137
Please visit my website at www.stacyhouse.com
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Hi Friends

I am happy to join Don Elbert in announcing that the Old Colony & Newport Railway will operate this Sunday at its regularly scheduled times of 11:45 am and 1:45 pm.

This has been a long week of bringing the OCNRR message to the public, getting an overwhelming level of support from the community, getting specific assistance from many of our local elected leaders and City Officials, and drafting what we believe to be an operating agreement that will be fair to the OCNRR, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, and the Newport Dinner Train.

The nature of the operating agreement and the names of those community leaders who came forward will be saved for a later publication. There are some specific negotiations that need to be worked out with RIDOT management. OCNRR has received an offer of pro-bono legal assistance from one of the island's leading law firms. We will allow this organization to 'close the deal'.

I would like to thank the OCNRR volunteers who kept me moving ahead with their encouragement. I would like to thank those community leaders who stepped up to help me during this process.

I would also like to thank the Newport Daily News and the Providence Journal for the articles that they published which brought this issue to the awareness of the citizens of Newport County and the railfans all over the country.

I would like to invite all interested parties to meet at the Depot this Sunday to celebrate with me by taking the 80 minute ride.

Sincerely

Peter Martin



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Stacy House Designs
One Willow Street
Newport, RI 02840
(401) 965 6137
Please visit my website at www.stacyhouse.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- all of my outgoing emails are scanned for viruses -
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