|
Centre Daily Times July 22 2005
The end of the line?
By Pete Bosak; pbosak@centredaily.com
"The popular, volunteer-driven Bellefonte Historical Railroad may have taken its last trip.
Having halted its weekly tourist railway outings early this year to sort out a new contract with Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad and its parent company, North Shore Railroad, the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society hoped to resume Sunday rail excursions earlier this month.
Now operators hope to reopen in September -- if at all.
"I would just hate to see this railroad be unable to continue," said Jean Gerber, executive director of the Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber of Commerce. "It would be a real blow to Bellefonte."
The stumbling block in contract negotiations is that the Bellefonte railroad has fallen $30,000 in debt over federally mandated track inspections -- all while the nonprofit group driven by about 20 key volunteers struggles to pay for routine maintenance and other expenses.
"We're extremely close to not reopening," said Brooks Parker, treasurer and member of the society's board of directors. "Once we are done, we are done. Not in my lifetime will there ever again be a railroad like this in Bellefonte."
The money owed Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad is a key obstacle. Nittany & Bald Eagle controls the lines on which the society's two 1950s, self-propelled rail diesels operate.
"We're negotiating terms on that," said Cecil Giscombe, a member of the society's board. "I am optimistic that can be done. But exactly when service will restart will depend on a number of factors."
The society's board will meet Monday to continue developing a strategy not only to reopen, but to reach prosperity.
"We're trying to develop a plan for economic recovery," Giscombe said. "It's an embarrassment to us that we're not running."
But the society's fee of $12 per person per outing does not cover operational costs if the train is not full, Giscombe said. The Federal Railroad Administration mandates the tracks be inspected each time the train runs if it is carrying passengers.
Those inspections can cost more than $400 per trip, Giscombe said.
"At $12 a head, it doesn't pay the bill," Giscombe said. "We go anyway, but we're operating at a loss. The track-inspection bills are killing us."
The trains can hold 88 passengers each, but they usually carry about 60 people on a good weekend, Parker said.
And with both trains sitting idle, the railroad cannot make any money to pay its debt to Nittany & Bald Eagle.
"You have to be running to make payments," Parker said. "How do we make payments?"
About 3,000 people rode the train last year, Parker said, and the society had about $74,000 in revenues. Expenses were about $59,000.
That doesn't tell the whole story, however. The profit essentially was a $15,000 grant that could be used only for promotion. What little money was left from last year is the only reason society members have not given up on reopening, Brooks said.
And even though the trains are not running, the society must spend $1,800 per month to insure both cars, Brooks said.
"For all intents and purposes, it's gone," Brooks said of last year's revenues.
If a deal is not worked out with Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad to get the trains operating by September, it most likely will be the end of the railroad, Parker said.
Gary Shields, president of North Shore Railroad, declined to discuss contract negotiations. "That's on ongoing business discussion," he said.
While Bellefonte Historical Railroad is independent of the chamber of commerce, the chamber helps promote its rail excursions.
"Our phones are ringing off the hook," said Lindsay Woodring, visitor information specialist with the chamber. "People have been asking for months and months whether it will be running. We are told it will not be running at all in July and August and, possibly, September."
Both Gerber and Bellefonte Historical Railroad operators hope that interest translates into a groundswell of public support and, most importantly, will yield new volunteers.
The group needs volunteers for train crews, and residents with mechanical skills who can perform maintenance on the railroad's antique cars.
"If something goes wrong, they are expensive to fix," Giscombe said.
There also are too few volunteers to run a railroad gift shop, much to the dismay of organizers who see it as a potential source of revenue.
"There is a great opportunity there," Giscombe said.
"We really need people," Parker said. "You can find money. You can't find people."
Gerber hopes people with financial expertise will volunteer and help steer the railroad out of its financial quagmire.
"I think people would pitch in if they knew how they could help," Gerber said."
Centre Daily Times July 22 2005
Track facts
"The Bellefonte Historical Railroad was incorporated in 1984. Its first excursion train ran on July 4, 1985.
The railroad owns two rail diesel cars built by the Budd Co. in Red Lion in the 1950s and '60s for passenger service on light-duty branch lines. Its first car was acquired in 1984; the second in 1992.
Each car is self-propelled and contains an operator's vestibule at either end; railroad diesel cars can be operated singly or coupled together to form short trains. Because there's an operator's control panel at either end, there's never a reason to turn a car around -- it can be run in both directions.
The railroad shares about 70 miles of Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad track, including from Tyrone to Lock Haven along the Bald Eagle Valley and a stretch from Bellefonte to Dale Summit.
At its peak, the historical railroad carried about 7,000 people in the summer. But that number has dropped to 3,000 as commercial rail traffic makes excursions through Bald Eagle Valley difficult to schedule.
In addition to scenic rides through Centre County, the railroad has offered Ride 'n Dine excursions and has run special trains for Victorian Christmas in Bellefonte and Santa Claus runs.
According to the railroad's Web site, it is thought to be the only volunteer operation in the country that runs in conjunction with a Class I railroad."
|
|
