NORWAY – There was very little discussion Friday at the Board of Directors meeting of the Norway Branch Line Railroad Co.
There were three officers and three positions to fill. The meeting held at the Norway town office building was quick.
Dennis Gray will remain president, Mike Noble vice president and Debra Partridge treasurer.
Partridge, also recreation director for Norway, was elected on Feb. 27 at a shareholders meeting as the third director.
The only stockholder to attend that meeting was Dennis Yates, who selectmen approved to represent the town’s 200 of the 350 total shares.
These officers, and clerk Debbie Wyman will keep their current positions until the annual meeting, set for July 13.
“Now that we have officers in place again, we’re going to work with town attorney to make sure the corporation is in good standing with state of Maine and then go back to work with the leases that are expiring,” Gray said.
The NBLRC has three leases. One is with the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad, which expired in January. The other leases are with local businesses: Bessey Motor Sales and Shaner’s Family Restaurant, both on Route 26 in Paris.
Gray said the leases for Bessey Motors and Shaner’s Family Restaurant automatically roll over even after expiration, as long as they are paid.
The originators of the NBLRC sold 350 shares of stock at $25 a share in 1870 to purchase the right of way and lay a couple miles of track as a spur to the main line.
The main line was owned by the Grand Trunk Railroad, which was later purchased by the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad.
The Norway Branch Line Railroad Co. signed a 99-year lease with GTRR.
The rail service, which was busy until the mid-1900s, brings goods to merchants and offering a passenger service.
The passenger service ceased sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, according to Gray.
Then the right of way was owned by St. Lawrence & Atlantic RR. Through the years it has been cutting back on the amount of track it leased.
The ownership of the right of way eventually went back to NBLRC.
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