Author Topic: TOM Phase 1: Passenger Platforms and Hiking Trails - Official Work Thread  (Read 34790 times)

John McNamara

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4) During Victorian Xmas and Easter it could house the concession area
I suspect that we should delete Victorian Christmas from this list because of the extra plowing and transit time required. There are a bunch of plowing photos available on YouTube to show how much work plowing involves, and it would be desirable to minimize that. Also, when moving 1500 people in a few hours, travel time needs to be minimized.  The present Santa Site at Alna Center offers reasonable plowing, rapid turnaround time, sleigh/wagon access and a heated building.

Joe Fox

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I think all "busy" special events should stop at Alna Center like they do now. And any special event festivity that requires outside resources Alna Center is perfect for many many reasons.

ToM is isolated, no access road, no place large enough to handle crowds over 100 people.

Bob Holmes

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Agree that Alna Center is the best and only place for special events.  This discussion is more about what we can do moving forward to make ToM a "destination" as described by Steve.

John Kokas

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OK, I see the reasons against V.C. & Easter at TOM.  I forgot about the lack of road access.  Please disregard my comment #4, but I think 1-3 are worth discussion.
Moxie Bootlegger

Alex Harvilchuck

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Agree that Alna Center is the best and only place for special events.  This discussion is more about what we can do moving forward to make ToM a "destination" as described by Steve.

... Start working on Temm's Shingle Mill and the To-Be-Named / Morse Sawmill.

Like Jason and Steve are saying, having an interpreted, working shingle and saw mills operating at TOM are a destination unto themselves.

Getting the railhead back to RT 218 and putting an Alna Center-sized "Trout Brook" station there coupled with the Midcoast trails will provide another destination with a different theme.

Alna Center, in addition to "large", flexible event space, could be use to interpret how the local farms leveraged the existence of the railroad. Yet another thematic destination. The WW1 reenactment is a perfect example of the event space flexibility.

Finally Sheepscot, standing in for the Wiscasset yards, gives a railway-based thematic destination.

We use the railway as a method of transporting the visitor to the particular thematic area they are interested. Maybe a visitor getting on at Sheepscot Station and really wanting to go take a walk on the trails at Trout Brook Station, sees all the interesting stuff at TOM Station and spur-of-the-moment decides to get off and spend time there. 

Wayne Laepple

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But -- before we get too deeply into all the great things we could do at Alna Center, let's remember that except for our right-of-way and a half acre that we own, the rest of that land is private property.