Wednesday, February 2, 2005 5:00 p
City terminates lease with Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad
Associated Press
BELFAST, Maine The Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad could be nearing
the end of the line after the City Council terminated its lease on the
city waterfront for failing to make rental payments on time.
The City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to end its lease with Railstar
Corp., the operator of the excursion railroad.
Company president Ron Trottier and his general manager, Paul Hallett,
implored the council to let them keep operating. They said the late
payments were a technical glitch, and that the railroad is an important
tourism draw to the region.
Holding up a plastic bag full of ticket stubs, Hallett told council
members that the railroad last year had 3,873 ticketed passengers.
"I want to be clear that these tickets were sold here in Belfast," he
said. "These are the people who came to this city because of the
railroad, but they ate in the restaurants, bought gifts in the gift shops,
pumped gas at the gas stations and stayed at the motels."
Mayor Michael Hurley said Wednesday that the late lease payments were the
"last straw" that led to the council4s vote to terminate the lease. He
said city officials have been patient as railroad ridership plunged in
recent years and the owners failed to show they had a long-term plan to
right the business.
More important, he said, is that the railroad occupies prime waterfront
property. As the city tries to reinvigorate its waterfront, the land
could be better used for other purposes, he said.
Residents want to see the railroad keep running, Hurley said, but they
also want development to move forward.
"The people in Belfast believe in the waterfront. They want to see things
happen," Hurley said.
The Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad chartered in 1867, running 33 miles
from Belfast to Burnham. The plan to extend the line as far as Greenville
never materialized, but Moosehead Lake remained a part of its name.
The single-track railroad carried passengers and freight, depending on the
economic situation at the time. During the 1960s and 1970s, the line
prospered by hauling feed grain for the Waldo County poultry industry,
which collapsed amid competition from low-cost producers to the South.
For much of its life, the line was owned by the city, which sold its
shares of the railroad in 1991 but retained the land and railroad
buildings.
The railroad was four months behind on its monthly $647 payment when the
city notified officials in December that it had broken the lease. The
railroad has been given until early march to vacate the property, Hurley
said.
