The Southern Michigan Railroad Society has a neutral election inspector. The takeover group asked a court to assign one, and they did. This is probably a good thing.

SMRS is targeted for takeover by Charles Gross and others.
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x1595422 ... er-planned
This is viewed with skepticism.
http://www.tecumsehherald.com/node/2301

The election is on Saturday November 14, I believe at either 6pm or 7pm.

See also http://www.savesmrs.com/

Meeting was held. No election results. Inspector will be counting ballots tomorrow.

On Sunday, the election inspector met at his office with several people from SMRS management and the takeover group(s). Several issues/complaints were raised.
He decided to reconvene Wednesday to reexamine the issues. Additional issues were raised by the takeover group Wednesday, so he decided to reconvene Thursday.

Thanks for keeping up posted.

I beg to ask, what were the issues raised?
O.

Does anybody have more background on this? I'm not familiar with the group, location, what they own, length of railroad, etc., etc.

We've seen this sort of conflict between community and tourist railroad before. I'm most familiar with what happened to the West Virginia Northern 10 years ago. Essentially, a poisoned relationship with Kingwood, WV led to the end of the operation and the removal of the track. No one or group in the community challenged the ownership or leadership of the operation for direct control. They just made it impossible for the railroad to continue operating. I'm fairly certain that the WVN was not set up the same way this group is.

It looks like the major concern here is that a group of local residents and businessmen that may or may not want the railroad to continue operating, consisting primarily of people with a direct conflict with the railroad, are trying to seize control of the operation. If they in-fact want to take control to end the operation, then it becomes a cautionary tale about how you structure a not-for-profit tourist railroad so such a thing can't happen. It also is a strong warning that a tourist railroad/museum can't operate in a vacuum in a community. You'd better have at least a cordial relationship with the political and civic leadership wherever you are.

Good question. My page on the SMRS doesn't answer that very well.

Southern Michigan Railroad Society is a nonprofit, operating railway museum located 20 miles southwest of Ann Arbor. The line runs between Clinton and Tecumseh and south to Lenawee Junction, 13.5 miles.

You may have heard my rant in the past: #1 Buy railroad (if you need it), #2 buy land for a site, and #3 build carbarns. Anything less is a temporary holding action against the weather.

Mind you, this is in a region (Michigan Ohio Indiana) where railway preservation has suffered terribly. It has suffered because #1 #2 #3 have not been done in that order. Well, here's SMRS. They have completed #1, and I was helping them with #2 when this business came up.

The importance of SMRS to Michigan railway preservation cannot be overstated. Yes, they are very underdeveloped, but they're only 25. Where was IRM, OET, BAERA, Seashore at age 25?

What I notice about those biggies is that none of them started with a railroad. They struggled to build a "demonstration railroad" over 40 years. (BAERA got lucky, and finally was able to acquire the adjacent interurban line.) Anyway, SMRS started with buying the line. That was the whole point of its founding. They got the first branchline in Michigan, more or less intact, Howe truss bridge, harp switchstands and all. Ties notwithstanding, it has great track for a museum - 100 pound rail. Amazingly resilient stuff. And, surprisingly for flatland Michigan, the line is very scenic.

I won't deny SMRS has a mixed relationship with the community. But it hasn't been egregious, and the people and community officials I've talked to seem to be sympathetic. I think SMRS is seen as an asset to the towns. Though an under-realized one. Mind you Michigan has spent the whole decade in economic recession, so they tend to be glad for what they have.

In Ohio it takes more than a railroad and property. We have both of those items but can’t get the money for car barns due to all the costs involved in improving and protecting your property. You also have a small membership base due to the fact most people think it’s a waste of money to fix track or pay lawyers. Our tales of woes and associated legal fees in defending the property are truly sickening. We even have a decent fund raising stream.
All in all Ohio is probably worse than Michigan for trying to preserve railroad history.

Jack,

Where are you at in Ohio that you are having so many troubles? I've not found it difficult to do industrial preservation in Ohio.

I find rail preservation in Ohio Indiana and Michigan to be different than in other states. Perhaps it is because of the rust belt phonemena. Regardless, there seem to be many efforts for rail tourism, and I am surprised today to find this link for the Ohio Rail Tourism Association!

http://www.ohiorailtourism.org/

It would seem that Pennsylvania and California (the main rail tourism states in North America) could do very much the same, and perhaps better.

Regarding SMRS... I see that the president of the Adrian and Blissfield commented on one news report from September. The A&B has some locomotives repainted in a pseudo NYC scheme... perhaps they are preservation oriented enough to help instill a good new vibe for the museum in Tecumseh. Fingers are crossed, for whatever outcome is to be.
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x1595422099/Railroad-takeover-planned

Most railway museum takeovers are factional disputes among railfans. This is not.

That news report was a 'puff piece' from the takeover people. Here's another view
http://www.tecumsehherald.com/node/2301

And another
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/courts/x ... -existence
resolved here
http://lenconnect.com/archive/x10083454 ... -ownership

You know, I worked with Jeff Dobek for several years building the SMRS. Then I came to California and became part of the Western Railway Museum, served on the Board and got elected president (a largely ceremonial title.) I haven't been happy with the SMRS's recent stagnation - but then, the Michigan economy really is the pits. So I gave SMRS a lot of money to help get them on track to becoming a great midwestern museum.

I actually wouldn't mind if this takeover attempt was one of those "railfan vs. railfan" deals. However the evidence I've seen just overwhelmingly draws me to the opinion that this is a land grab by outsiders indifferent to railway preservation.

More media coverage
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x2072218 ... y-election

This ballot counting is taking longer than the recounts during the election of 2000. Whats it been, 11 days so far to count 400 ballots?

Maybe those "hanging chads" have suddenly showed up again!

You may know the backstory: August 31 is the cutoff for new members to vote in the November election. On August 28, SMRS received (by process server) a packet of 149 membership applications. Almost all had a return address of 105 Brown Street, a lawyer's office, meaning newsletters and ballots would go there. 3 days on the clock. Not even enough time for cheques to traverse the mail. There would be time for lawyers later; SMRS's active volunteers felt the best way to use those 3 days was a frantic membership drive. I wired some money to solve the "mail" problem for folks affected by that. In 3 days, friends of SMRS raised 216 memberships. Surprise!

Objections are things like:
* Were the friendly memberships wrongly funded from an endowment?
* Is the money I wired improper to fund memberships?
* Is 216 memberships in 3 days so unlikely that it's fair to assume back-dating and thus election fraud?
* Do mail-in ballots also require the member's presence via proxy at the opening?
* Do ballots count if they're photocopied and not in their signed envelopes?
* Is vote buying (1 person voting many ballots that he paid for) legit?