http://www.lenconnect.com/news/courts/x ... ins-ruling

I think it was discussed here some time ago some local politicals were trying to take control of the museum line, trying to do voting to change the bylaws or Board of directors or what not, make changes in the line not suited for a historical museum line, now that "personage" keeps trying to corrupt the proceedings, sounds like some dirty laundry to me, probably finding out the "votes" did not go in his favor. Sounds like a baby on a tantrum.

This March article is actually quite timely. It is election season again. Stuff is happening.

The current activities are from a subset of the old takeover group. Since last year, SMRS reached out, listened, and made peace with the rest of them. A key deal got done at a genuinely fair price.

The above lawsuit was filed in Lenawee County court. The same party simultaneously filed a second lawsuit for defamation. In Detroit court, not Lenawee. Detroit took one look at the case and said "This belongs in Lenawee". It's just now arriving because Detroit is really backed up. Who knew?

That exercise cost SMRS and the three sued members (including me) over $10,000. And now we start over. This is on top of several other rounds of expense relating to the sham members, bylaws, election inspection ($31,000 for that), and prior lawsuit.

That's all I'm willing to say. From here in California. Where I speak for myself exclusively and not SMRS.

An easy search of RyPN will reveal more backstory.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28263&p=131589
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28441&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Defamation...someone comes in and tries to steal the railroad, really, that is what its about.

I heard/read a little more elsewhere and they wanted to find rail freight business, you don't try to take over the museum group, your form a second business partner and gain trackage rights, what happened was totally unnecessary and very viscious.

No better argument for loser pays legislation can be made than what has happened here. These VOLUNTEERS will have to fork over a year's pay to defend themselves in the various court cases. They will win the case but will lose in the end.

I sure hope this group carries directors' insurance. Other groups should take note and ensure they are adequately protected so their directors' families aren't financially ruined by something like this.

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario

I tend to think victimized by this ordeal, the loonie trying to take the railroad deserves a hard legal slap on the wrist, and the railroad museum serve a protection injunction against this person from any more lawsuits presented on behalf by this person, as they are getting frivolous. The museum is not at fault in all this, or the members (albeit some member or members who paid dues just to get the vote or chance to take over the Museum group) they are defending themselves. The museum needs to alter the bylaws. Throwing lawsuits around is not helping anybody. I just wonder if there is such a thing as a "Legal Predator", using laws to prey on the innocent...

Because this "person" couldnt get the railroad he's having a "legal fit"

Seems to me that this incident is a very historically accurate re-creation of the way things were in the day of the rail barons. Perhaps this is the opportunity for a new museum exhibit?

(Disclaimer: In the above paragraph, I'm kidding).

That is no stranger than truth! The railroads were far more competitive in the early times, even fights breaking out between construction gangs. Railroads were more private enterprises technically. A recent thread on a Yahoo group about an interurban line trying to get a crossing over a steam line, the steam line kept making it tougher to build a crossing, like building a 2ND track next to the line the interurban had to cross then parking equipment on that track so no construction could get done on the crossing, it was mean! The interurban had to go to court to get the crossing to happen because the steam line was being NO WAY MAN!!

I am sure there are incidents like this all over railroaddom...heh.

I've heard similar stories of railroads preventing grade crossings by parking equipment in the way. I also remember hearing something about the Santa Fe workers and the Rio Grande workers firing on each other in an attempt to win a mountain pass "back in the old days".

Some things never change. Check out this page, a little over halfway down. When some track disappeared, the railroad put up a fence and parked a locomotive on the remaining track. [url]http://www.oregonpacificrr.com/eastportlandbranch.html/url]

The comments about railroads blocking proposed level crossings and other things from the old days reminds me of a practice that, as far as I know, was never really overturned.

In some situations where a property owner or some other person blocked the construction of a railroad, some companies would build the line over the disputed property on a Sunday, when the courts were closed and the owner couldn't get an injunction against the railroad. Come Monday morning, the arguments centered around a now-operating railroad. Obviously, this dates from a time when rail construction could be lot quicker and dirtier than today. It's also interesting that at least one railroad in the east used this tactic against another road to get its level crossing, and won the court case.

Just for fun: Assuming this practice has never really been outlawed for some reason, and assuming legal precedent would still hold at this late date, this might be a way to deal with at least some NIMBYs. Two examples I can think of are the Notre Dame project, and the other the long-proposed reopening of the Lackawanna Cutoff. Important elements in both would be the necessity of gathering enough materials, machines, and people (and money) to do the job in 24 hours or less, and of keeping the whole thing secret until you were ready to move (and ideally you would want to also be sure the judge involved would be out of town for some reason). In the case of the Lackawanna Cutoff, the scale of the operation would suggest an effort in preparation akin to the D-Day invasion, and on top of that you would have to break the Central Pacific's record for laying 10 miles of track in one day in 1869.

Still, it would be interesting to finally break that ancient record, and in celebration on the following Monday, run the first commuter trains with a couple of Reading T-1s standing in for Lackawanna Poconos. . .or better still, all four existing T-1s. . .

Gee, I just had the strangest yet most pleasant dream, why did I have to wake up . . .

Now that Monday holidays are more common, it's more practical to wait for a "3 day weekend" to do the job.