This is all fine and dandy, but a couple of quick realizations by someone whose been there more than a couple of times:1.) This is located in an area with a very sparse population. I'm sorry, but one needs to go quite a few miles to get to almost anything. This doesn't help the cause when doing the "return on cost" factor of restoring the line, and there just isn't a huge population base to draw from to make a go of it.2.) The line was abandoned in 1945 for a reason, and sadly, although most would like to see it, its not exactly a "prefect site" for a tourist railway; the cost of rebuilding one of the original locomotives (which I would assume most would desire) alone would be so exorbinant that you would be so far in the hole that you'd never recover (assuming a for-profit venture), an effort that would be hard to foot for the Quincy area. In addition, there are no major employers or foundations willing to support this kind of effort by themselves in the U.P., and the State of Michigan can't afford to fund its restoration either, especially when they are debating whether or not to continue funding Amtrak's Pere Marquette and Blue Water in the L.P. Also, as was previously noted, most of the original equipment that could be hauled is beyond repair or gone --- so add in the cost of passenger car pruchase as well. 3.) Unless I'm missing something here, you gentleman are forgetting another important Q&TL engine, which will soon be operable again; the Torch Lake , the last operating Mason Bogie, at the Henry Ford Museum. While it may not be in its original location, it is (will be again) hauling passengers in a place that can afford to sustain itself, and it does not have to foot the entire bill!4.) While, as Bob noted, volunteers have done an admirable job with preserving the hoist, its taken every ounce of their effort and then some, which is why (and I believe correctly) they decided to forgo trying to restore the railroad AND the hoist with the limited manpower available. It would most likely take a completely separate organization to preserve the railroad, something like the EBT, and then another group, much like Friends of the EBT, to gelp restore what little remains.Sadly, you'd almost be better of to restore the logging engine in Nahma, or the Soo Line Pacific in Gladstone. TJ
|
It has finally got some well-deserved publicity as well as recognition from the state over the years. It has not recieved much in the way of state money; but they have been having machinery meets and other events as well revenue from ticket sales. They also sell rides on speeder on the tracks around the grounds.I think the remoteness of the site was what saved it; had it been in a big city; redevelopment pressures and value of the land itself would have made saving it more difficult. As it was; it could lay fallow for about thirtyyears until the museum was formed.
-James Hefner Hebrews 10:20a Surviving World Steam Project