The rumors are flying today that the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum has been asked to leave its site on the Portland waterfront. Can anyone substantiate that or clarify what is going on? Clearly that site has been less than ideal since the equipment was brought up from Edaville over a decade ago. But, what now would be an alternative?

rumours are flying where?

a search of the google news and yahoo news sites brings up nothing,
and a scan of the Portland newspapers brings up nothing.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/home.html

http://thephoenix.com/Portland/Default.aspx?Location=Portland

it seems no one in the offical press is talking about it..

Scot

The location in Portland is less than ideal for attracting casual tourists. If this turns out to be true at least now there are serveral viable narrow gauge operations in Maine (WW&F, SR&RL, Boothbay, OWL, etc.) where these treasures could go.

that may be true..
but..
the current Portland location has a MUCH better chance of attracting "casual tourists" than the SR&RL or WW&F ever would! ;)

I mean nothing against the SR&RL and WW&F, on the contrary I think they are both fabulous organizations! and I would love to see any of the Portland equipment go to either of them..
but if we are only talking about "attracting tourists", then Portland makes WAY more sense than "out in the wilderness" north of Phillips or Wiscasset..

Boothbay can attract "casual tourists" raher well, since they are on the main drag to BB harbor.

but...IMO attracting "casual tourists" shouldnt even be a factor.
its not even relevant.
yes, I know more tourists bring in more money,
but these are VERY rare and historic artifacts..they deserve to go where they will get the best care..
Wiscasset and/or Phillips fits the bill IMO.
tourists be damned! ;)

and the WW&F seems to be attracting tourists rather well..
at least they arent too far from route 1.

but..these kinds of discussions might be moot anyway.
this is all probably just a false rumour..

Scot

The Portland operation has a nice little collection, including a housed museum. If it turns out that this rumor holds any water, I would sincerely like to see WW&F get the first chance at equipment, rails, and supplies. Nothing against other operations in any way, but WW&F looks forward and always moves in that direction. Adding several more operational steam locomotives would provide a wonderful rotation of original equipment in it's original setting. Boothbay has a few little German dock engines and a nice collection of artifacts, but I think the original Maine two-footers would be wasted in that setting. Until the rumor is substantiated, let's sit on this topic.

I don't think this is implausible at all. In fact, I seem to remember flimsies posted here years ago (before the infamous website hack and crash) about conflicts between the museum and development authorities in Portland. There was one conflict about use of a right of way for transit, trail, light rail, or the museum. There is also upscale condo development underway or complete.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the railroad where these locomotives operated longer than they ever did in Maine if the MNGRR were in fact to cease operation. I have visited Edaville under the current (2004-) management twice and, despite the loss of track (beyond their jurisdiction as the land is leased from the last CranRail partner), certainly came away with the impression they "look forward" and have been doing a fine job based on what they arrived to. More recently, I have also noticed extensive advertising in various New England tourist guides.

While I can't speak for them and if they want to get more steam back (someone mentioned the thought somewhere), it would be great to see them have at least the opportunity at perhaps bringing back one or two of those engines if the interest was there. The new owners also seem to have a genuine respect for the railroad's history (I noticed the Ellis Atwood memorial whistle post had been relocated for inclusion in the new, shorter loop)

It may be that the recent relocation of the "Ellis Atwood Memorial Whistle Post" constitutes a genuine regard for Edaville's history by it's present owners. But Edaville's history following Atwood's death was hardly kind, in any preservation sense, to the Atwood collection.

Considering that the majority of the surviving B&SR freight cars were subsequently scrapped in order to create various open excursion cars for Edaville itself as well as the one-time Pleasure Island operation, and others rebuilt into the various hokey home-made coaches now sitting in Portland's back lot, one can perhaps come up with some sort of economic rationalization for the Blount-era vandalism (something perhaps akin to having to destroy the proverbial village in order to save it).

The treatment of the passenger stock is harder to justify. Jack White wrote an article years ago describing his anticipation of visting the legendary fleet of diminuative 1880's passenger cars, only to realize that Edaville itself had disposed of the original Miller platforms, steps, brake systems, and so forth in favor of cobbed-up diamond plate dummies. Less esoteric, perhaps, was Edaville's conversion of the ex-Phillips & Rangeley combine to a coach (now rotting in Portland) and the classic B&SR three-door baggage car to a combine (still at Edaville, but further rebuilt by present owners into a full coach). Then there was the very-original B&SR coach that was sadly burned out by vandals in the 1980's and never rebuilt before the remains rotted to nothing; perhaps Edaville did not carry insurance.

It is discouraging that several of the P&R/SR&RL coaches remain outdoors at Portland along with a handful of surviving B&SR boxcars; hopefully this will change, and the Portland group will better appreciate what survives and find ways to preserve it for its own sake, rather than spending its energy and political capital seeking to operate a commuter service or whatever the current plan is. It's uncertain whether its board currently views its collection as artifacts or, as at Edaville, simply as seats best filled with fare-payers. At Portland last year, I was encouraged to see the parlor car "Rangeley" safely indoors (as it always was at Edaville). However, I noted in horror that some minor electrical work to install a few switches or outlets in the museum building had resulted in the expediant of Romex cable being strung along the car itself with heavy staples hammered right into the original sheathing. Not quite museum treatment, yet.

George Jackson Churchward