Filed yesterday in the Municipal Court of Cleveland, Ohio. Looks like American Steam Railroad ("ASR"), the lessees of Reading 2100 are being evicted from the roundhouse in Cleveland by its current lessee, Midwest Railway Preservation Society, Inc.

The case number is 2017 CVG 003164

Docket can be found at the Cleveland Municipal Court website:
https://eservices.cmcoh.org/eservices/home.page.7

Looks like ASR is due in Court on March 23, 2017.

simple question...why?

I take it the locomotive is not easily moved at this time.

I've deleted my post as per Mr. Hees's warning. Since two previous threads have been deleted, is any discussion whatsoever of the American Steam Railroad banned from this site?

If past performance is indicative of future results, then I assume we will never get honest answers to the questions from ASR.

Evictions only occur for two reasons - either they aren't paying, or they have violated a condition of the lease.

A third, the lease has expired and they haven't moved out or negotiated a new lease.

So if the court authorizes the eviction and they don't remove the 2100, does that mean it becomes Midwest's?

This topic has the potential of becoming a problem... and so far two members have PM'ed me about it.

The notice of the law suit and eviction is news... discussions about the reasons behind it see to be all speculation, and as speculation and as such are not welcome.

Thank You
Randy

Is speculation always not welcome? It seems like a slippery standard, because you and Doug have let the thread about the volunteer getting killed at MOT go without a warning, and it has TONS of speculation in it, including whether the deceased knew of the inherent dangers of older style tube tires and rims.

This warning only proves the point I made earlier, we at RYPN are incapable of discussing difficult subjects, partly because the moderators do not let us. Whether they are easily intimidated by parties through private messages or lack the fortitude we will never know. After all, it would be speculation.

While not an official policy, I believe it is. My theory (here comes that dreaded speculation) is that person(s) affiliated with ASR backchannel the moderators and threaten legal action against RYPN and them personally if the "offending" thread isn't locked or deleted. I cannot prove it, but Doug Bailey admitted to me that the last thread was deleted as a result of a complaint after it was discovered that someone from ASR was using a sock puppet account.

I went to the website for the court. I found the record, but it is all the addresses and dates. Is the complaint a public record at this point?

It would be, unless the Court seals it. I'm working on trying to acquire a PDF of it, as it's helpful to look at the actual documents in question.

Speculation as to what caused the landlord to file, which is now a matter of public record, can be easily quelled by a simple statement by ASR confirming the fact that there is an eviction action pending against them based on allegations of (for example non-payment, failure to renew, failure to maintain facility, failure to provide agreed-upon access) followed by the boilerplate "no further comment on pending action". ASR would not averring as to the truth of the allegations, merely stating what is on record down at the local courthouse. I just checked the ASR website and did not see any mention of the action that was filed today.

Constructive and positive speculation/brainstorming as to what ASR's options would be if the landlord prevails and successfully evicts ASR could be a useful exercise in that it may give ASR an idea for a successful transition that they had not considered.

Speculation as to how this action could impact the private contract between ASR and the locomotive owner would just be useless gossip without knowledge of the contract terms.

Given that ASR is still soliciting tax-deductible donations for this project, money that they hold in public trust, they should be as transparent about the potential impact of this action on the restoration project as their attorney will allow. Public money, either in tax dollars or tax-exempt donations, carries with it a great responsibility of transparency that does not exist in a private restoration.

Thanks David, I suspect (that's suspicion, not speculation) that you're right.