SOURCE: Portland Press Herald - Randy Billings
The
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad is changing tracks. Instead of building a new museum
and rail line in Gray, the nonprofit railroad company that has operated on the
eastern waterfront since 1993 with popular events like the Polar Express is
staying in Portland.
The
group recently received zoning approvals to build a new storage facility at the
eastern terminus of the 2-foot-wide railway, near the East End Treatment Plant,
and is seeking approvals to build a new ticketing booth and passenger center
near Ocean Gateway.
The
nonprofit plans to pay for the $2 million project with a capital campaign.
Executive
Director Wesley Heinz said the nonprofit is finalizing site plans, which he
said would only need administrative approval because of the project size and
status as an accessory use to the rail line. He hopes to break ground on the
new buildings this fall.
“It
was all there,” Heinz said of the opportunity to stay in Portland. “We just needed to think outside
the box.”
The
Narrow Gauge Railroad needs to be out of its current location at 58 Fore St. by
Sept. 2, he said. It’s being displaced as part of the redevelopment of the
former railroad foundry into a new mixed-use neighborhood, Portland Foreside.
The
nonprofit originally planned to move its museum to Gray, where it hoped to
build a new rail line, but those plans were abandoned this year.
Heinz
said a lack of funding played a small role, but the “show-stopper” was the
inability to develop the property located next to a strip mall because it was a
wetland.
The
new plans emerge at a time of growth for the small rail company. Heinz said
ridership has more than doubled in the past five years. Last year, over 60,000
people rode the Narrow Gauge, including the popular Polar Express train in the
days leading up to Christmas, compared to 23,000 passengers in 2013, he said.
The
nonprofit also is hosting more corporate events, in addition to new family
events, including ice cream train rides and a Friday family fun night, which
includes music, lights, juice and cookies.
“The
business model really supported us staying here,” Heinz said in an interview
aboard the train as it rattled along the eastern waterfront Monday. “As
ridership grew, it became very apparent that we have a home here.”
Stephanie
and Bob Holmes of New York took their
22-month-old granddaughter, Heidi, for her first trip on the train and were
pleased to hear it would remain in Portland.
“She
loved it,” Bob Holmes said. “She was waving to everyone.”
Plans
call for a 1,000-square-foot passenger center and ticketing booth within the
railroad right of way along Thames
Street, near Ocean Gateway. The railroad also
would build a 6,600-square-foot storage facility near the East End Treatment
Plant. The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals granted a hardship variance for the
nonprofit in May and reduced the shoreland zone setbacks from 75 feet to none.
Heinz
said the new buildings are being considered an accessory use to the rail line. Portland has a long
history of rail, which the current city has grown up around.
Heinz
said that the nonprofit will probably have to use a temporary trailer, or
simply sell tickets aboard the train, until the new passenger facility, which
will have a waiting area and restrooms, is ready.
The
new plan does not call for a museum. Instead, Heinz said a Narrow Gauge exhibit
is being established at the Wiscasset, Waterville
and Farmington Railway Museum
in Alna, which also will run some of the Narrow Gauge’s trains.
Jerry
Angier, a trustee who is leading the fundraising effort, said the railroad is
determined to get the project built.
“We’ll
do it as long as we need to do it until we have the funds to make this a
success,” Angier said. “We’ll leave no stone unturned. And anyone who will
listen will get the sales pitch.”
