Quote
trainrider47
"American Heritage Railways Inc. has decided to permanently cease operations and close Mt. Rainier Railroad for the foreseeable future." (emphasis added)
I would say that closing for good is a pretty accurate title for this thread. I assume the name Mt. Rainier Railroad belongs to American Heritage so any operation that arises from the ashes will have a new name. Remember, it was the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad before American Heritage took over.
One would hope that the Washington Forestry Museum would be able to resume operation at some point in the future, but the reason they turned the operation over to American Heritage was they were not succeeding financially. With American Heritage exiting, I'm not sure what path forward exists.
Does anyone here know what American Heritage Railways got when it purchased the railroad in 2016?
I don't personally know who owns what, but my
impression is that AHR's MRS is a concession to operate equipment owned by a 2nd party on track owned by a 3rd party.
AHRR did not purchase the museum according to the
May 19, 2016 Trains Newswire article "Under new ownership, Mt. Rainier Scenic prepares for busy season that said
"While the railroad has become a for-profit operation, the logging and railroad history museum associated with the Mt. Rainier Scenic remains a non-profit entity."
The track that MRS operates on was owned by Tacoma Rail/City of Tacoma. I never saw any news about it being sold, so I assume that the City still owns the track.
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Chris Webster