[PRCo] Re: Lake Shore Electric Ry. may auction its trolleys

[Edward H. Lybarger]

The gentleman I know is not a wine and cheese type, by any stretch.

While I certainly don't know all the details, I do understand that there is
a lot of accumulated debt and that the proceeds from the sale of the
collection will go toward extinguishing it.

I do know a fair amount about fund raising, however, and to quote John
Swindler's famous epigram, "Nothing is impossible to the person who doesn't
have to do the work."  Successful fund raising is not easy, and involves
more turndowns than grants.  Fund raising in a recession is much more
difficult, especially when "shovel ready" is demanded, and there is no
shortage of pet projects on every politician's plate.  I don't think I
discount LSE's efforts; I think their timing worked very much against them.
I certainly hope significant pieces of the collection remain in Cleveland
for a future operation.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Herb
Brannon
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:02 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Lake Shore Electric Ry. may auction its trolleys

The separate development was/is the "Flats East" project.This was to include
the usual apartments, condos, shops, stores, and even a large Giant Eagle
store The land was cleared and right now is getting all new underground
infrastructure (water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, streets, etc) all
provided by the City of  Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Northern Ohio Sewer
District, and RTA. This would be the perfect time to include the rails in
the new streets. So, while the private developer panicked and withdrew, the
government agencies are committed to completing their part of the project.
If Lakeshore did do any fundraising then it was a very secretive type of
fundraising which, apparently, the general public was excluded from. I have
never seen any type of media advertising any fundraising activity on the
part of Lakeshore. They probably like to do things like 'wine and cheese
tastings'. That type of thing doesn't net much in the way of funds to give
to the project. Also, right now is the time to tap into the US Government
money for a "new start" private sector rail transit project. In my opinion
they are not really trying and apparently are content to watch their assets
roll away.

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Edward H. Lybarger <trams2 at comcast.net>
wrote:
> Unfortunately, it's not this simple.  I know one of the principals in 
> this, and he and others have provided a lot of capital.  Yes, the 
> public sector was cooperative as well, but it was not expected that 
> they would wrap things up like a present and hand them to LSE.  Plenty 
> of fund raising activity took place among certain board members (I 
> will not try to tell you that everyone on that board was equally 
> helpful), but it was the fact that a separate development plan fell 
> through that made LSE conclude that funding was not available at this 
> time.  They simply didn't have the ability to cover the ongoing costs of
storage until the economy recovers.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of 
> Herb Brannon
> Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 8:56 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Lake Shore Electric Ry. may auction its trolleys
>
> I was just at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum to look at their 
> collection of rust last weekend. They are hoping to get two or three 
> of the Lakeshore/Trolleyville cars so they can begin operating their
"museum".
>
> Word is also circulating that the current owners of the 
> ex-Trolleyville fleet just gave up on trying to raise funds for their 
> operation. The City of Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Regional 
> Transit Authority have actually gone "above and beyond" to try to get 
> this operation started. However, when the ball gets in the owners 
> court, they are either unable or unwilling to play the game. I know, 
> for a fact, that RTA has given a lot of kilowatt hours of electricity 
> and pantographs to that group so they could run some of their 
> double-end cars for the public on RTA revenue tracks.  I think the 
> owners may have thought that the city government, county government 
> and RTA would put it all together for them to "play" with. There has 
> never been any attempt to raise capital or to obtain capital to begin 
> this project. Looks like some more of those "business" types who don't
know "business". Too bad, it could have been a really nice operation.
>
> On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote:
>> The following article was sent to me by a friend in Cleveland, and is
> attributed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Photos of some of the 
> trolleys in this article are embedded in the e-mail, but I'm not sure 
> if they will appear on the Dementia post.
>> Bob 5/26/09
>>
>>
>>
>>      Lake Shore Electric Railway Inc. may be forced to auction 
>> 30-plus trolley car collection
>>
>>
>>
>>      Many of the cars stored in Cleveland were once on display at
> Trolleyville U.S.A. in Olmsted Township, which closed in 2002.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>      The PDA hand crank shows workmanship of a bygone era aboard one 
>> of
> the many trolley cars being stored in a warehouse near the Great Lakes 
> Science Center.
>>
>>      Another big idea for downtown Cleveland derailed before it left 
>> the
> station.
>>      A nonprofit group with a warehouse full of old trolley cars is 
>> nixing
> plans to build a tourist-attracting rail loop downtown and a trolley 
> museum nearby.
>>      Instead, Lake Shore Electric Railway Inc. wants to put a 30-plus 
>> car
> collection up for auction as soon as July, said Mark Ricchiuto, group 
> spokesman and an executive with Marous Brothers Construction.
>>      Civic and elected leaders supported the project, he said. But 
>> the
> economic recession stanched fund raising. The stalled Flats East Bank 
> project hurt as well, he said.
>>      The nonprofit group wanted to build a short trolley loop near 
>> the
> east bank and up through the Warehouse District, Ricchiuto said.
>>      But Lake Shore Electric can't wait any longer to deal with its 
>> debts
> and mounting costs, Ricchiuto said.
>>
>>
>>
>>      Seats are available on this trolley car owned by Lake Shore 
>> Electric
> Railway Inc. In fact, the entire collection of trains is likely to be 
> up for sale soon.
>>      Dennis Eckart, a former U.S. congressman and a board member for 
>> the
> railway group, called the project "a bridge too far."
>>      "The real value was getting them out of the museum and back on 
>> the
> track," Eckart said of the trolleys. "That became a financially 
> insurmountable hurdle."
>>      Most of the collection sits in a city-owned warehouse on 
>> Cleveland's
> port, north of the Great Lakes Science Center.
>>      The cars have sat for several years in the warehouse, under a
> $1-a-year lease with the city of Cleveland.
>>      That lease has expired, as has a lease the railway group held on 
>> a
> city-owned parcel south of the sprawling municipal parking lot at East 
> 9th Street.
>>      The group hoped to build a storage barn and museum there, at the
> terminus of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's 
> Waterfront Line.
>>      "They had a unique asset with the collection of historic trolleys,"
> said Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown. "It was worth giving it a try.
> But you know how many museums come and go. It was well-intentioned, 
> but they weren't able to raise the money."
>>      Many of the cars had once been on display in Trolleyville U.S.A. 
>> in
> Olmsted Township. The late Gerald E. Brookins assembled the symbols of 
> a bygone era and ran some of them on a short track on weekends.
>>      When Trolleyville closed in 2002, the nonprofit group formed to
> preserve the cars and also crafted the downtown proposal. Chip Marous, 
> president of Marous Brothers, headed the effort.
>>      A number of cities, including Tampa and Dallas, have drawn 
>> crowds to
> rail lines featuring old trolley cars, Ricchiuto said.
>>      Eckart hopes that the auction will yield enough money to restore 
>> one
> or two of the cars for nostalgic use on an RTA line.
>>      "But that will be driven by what the market tells us," Eckart said.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Herb Brannon
> On America's North Coast
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



--
Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast