First, I will start with a little about where Mid-Continent has been. Mid-Continent started as the Railway Historical Society of Milwaukee in 1959. Their board of directors established Mid-Continent Railway Museum later in 1959 then changed the name of the Society to Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society about the time it purchased the North Western spur that left the C&NW main line in North Freedom, Wisconsin. The Society in pretty much chronological order moved the depot, built the engine house, laid the north yard, laid the south yard, installed the water tower and coaling station with under-track conveyer and elevator, constructed the office, graded the southwest quadrant, constructed the coach shed, constructed the freight house with freight platform, constructed the car shop, and erected the crossing tower. All of this took place between 1963 and 1992 but there have been no additions to the physical plant of the museum since then. The lead track bed to the display building and roundhouse planned for the SW quadrant is visible through the weeds and the Milwaukee Road turntable is up there across from the business office. The physical plant at North Freedom was so attractive and authentic that several movies have been filmed there including a third of the movie “Steel and Steam”, featuring C&NW #1385 and the Lackawanna coaches. This short movie continues to be shown in the roundhouse theater at Steamtown.

In order to protect the collection and expand the museum, the board of directors of Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society unanimously approved the Strategic Short and Long Range Planning Committee (SSLRPC) report of November 4, 2001. They supported the development of the southwest quadrant as defined in the SSLRPC Report and identified the large collection storage building as the first phase of construction. The strategic plan describes planned construction of a New Display Hall west of the existing Coach Shed, a Visitor Center north of and adjoining the New Display Hall, Future storage building south of the existing coach shed (phase 2), turntable west of the Display Hall (phase 3), and roundhouse north of the turntable (phase 4). This strategic plan is a culmination of 30 years of planning effort (see May 1976 Gazette reprinted in Gazette 40(1):16-17, 2007) and Mid-Continent blog of May 3, 2010. To date, none of these plans have been followed.

Near the end of the annual members meeting of MCRHS on November 4, 2006, I asked the manager about plans for the next year and the next five years. I also asked for his vision of where MCRHS and its museum will be twenty years from then. He was unable to answer any of these questions. However, three blogs followed that said little of substance. One interesting blog of January 29, 2007 was titled “Making Plans.” I thought the comments of one reader were very telling. He mentioned.” I read your comments with great interest. I'm curious about the 2005-2009 strategic plan, how was it communicated to the general membership? Is the plan available for review by members who haven't seen it (or have faulty memories like me?).”

The following is a quote from the first paragraph of the Manager’s blog of July 24, 2007. “This past week [the current president] began assembling a new strategic planning committee. Their charge is to formally do what we have been informally doing via the web log these past few months – compiling our own version of a strategic plan as a guide for Mid-Continent’s development over the next several years.” I have not and my friends have not seen this new plan.

A series of blogs from August 24 through November 2, 2009 promoted the idea of opening a satellite operation and museum in Mazomanie, Wisconsin, which is about 23 miles west of Madison. Interestingly, this proposal is being promoted by a new board member who owns a restaurant in Mazomanie and owns the proposed building of the museum, which Mid-Continent is renting at absurdly high prices for the region. Is this a conflict of interest? Recent blogs have disclosed a propaganda campaign to illustrate the supposed disadvantages of developing the museum at North Freedom and presented advantages for the Satellite establishment. A blog published on March 29, 2010 further expounded on the satellite Museum "for the Milwaukee Road." One member replied with the following comments, "Mid-Continent has a ruined Milwaukee Road inspection automobile, an RSC-2 diesel in for repairs, and a choice ten-section lounge solarium observation car to populate the Mazo ‘museum’ site. The Illinois Railway Museum has an entire building filled with ex-Milwaukee Road equipment, restored and operable. They are light years ahead of Mid-Continent in making a Museum for Milwaukee Road equipment." More recently, press releases show many of the small and medium size collection items and the archive contents that have been or are being moved to Mazomanie. All of this has been done without approval of the voting members.

These are some of the blogs about North Freedom. A blog appearing on March 1, 2010 provided the suggestion of "one former board member [who] put the price tag for this rebuild [after the flood of 2008] within the range of fifty to one hundred million dollars. That includes adding the display buildings needed to get all of our collection under cover, installing the turntable, constructing the roundhouse, and bringing all of our operating fleet into compliance with FRA code." This assessment is so incredulous it is laughable. Another (May 10, 2010) was titled "Life in the Flood Plain" and points out that essentially all the yards and buildings of the museum are located in a flood plain. The cost of repairing the depot platform would cost $460,000. My reply to this blog included, "you left out one very important piece of information. The southwest quadrant or land located west of the coach shed is not in the flood plain. This land is where Bill Armstrong and earlier leaders of Mid-Continent proposed further construction of the museum, where the land was graded to accommodate this expansion, and where the roundhouse with turntable, display building, parts storage building, and visitor center were to be constructed." Still another blog (May 17) presented the cost of repairing the bridge over the Baraboo River at $850,000 and another (May 24) mentioned it would cost $250,000 to bring village water the 300 yards from the water main in the village to the museum without any explanation of how these numbers were reached.

The latest communication was the treasurer’s magnum opus of 8 pages with the title "What’s all this about Mazomanie?" The opening paragraph stated "This message is being sent to all of our members in response to requests made at the April members’ meeting asking that we distribute to everyone further information about our plans to establish a second museum in the community of Mazomanie, WI." The main argument being presented is that Dane County with Madison has a large donor base whereas Sauk County with Baraboo and North Freedom does not. What the treasurer did not bring up in his magnum opus is the deviation from a successful business plan that resulted in the loss of $250,000 in revenue each year resulting from not operating a steam train, the three million plus visitors to the Wisconsin Dells only 12 miles north of North Freedom versus the only 236,000 population of Madison, the presence of Society owned track and infrastructure at North Freedom that does not exist in Mazomanie, and the established reputation in North Freedom. Any army general or business person knows you do not divide your resources, your focus, and your attention to create a second front when your current activities are failing through ineptitude.

This future direction the board of directors is taking the Society does not seem to be appreciated by the voting members of Mid-Continent. In fact, a voting member proposal has been initiated to change the bylaws in order to replace board-appointed board members with voting-member elected board members and to require approval by voting members for operations away from North Freedom. I sent a letter to 75 members who responded to my earlier mailings urging them to approve these bylaws changes and highlighted the accumulating $800,000 debt over the past seven years. The board recommended members not to approve these changes. Usually, voting members who live distant from North Freedom follow the suggestions of the board. However not this time; the vote was close but all passed. The unofficial count is 100 for and 68 against member election of nine of twelve board members, 93 for and 75 against members meeting resolutions are binding, and 89 for and 79 against relocation or expansion requiring voting member approval. Despite this vote, another shipment left yesterday for Mazomanie. Could it be that the secret plan is to start a new organization in Mazomanie; move the good assets, Lackawanna coaches, Diesel locomotives fixed with MC funds and flood insurance, and cash to Mazomanie; and leave the debt at North Freedom for the rebellious members to deal with?

The topic later this week will focus on the ups and downs of the steam program.