Project Update - January 2021

UPDATE - Council Work Session and upcoming visit from Steam Operations Corporation First and foremost, a huge thank you to one of the council members for sliding us in late yesterday afternoon. We are forever grateful to have been able to address the council and set a foundation for the goals we have as an organization. The council meeting mostly was positive. The objective for us was to simply introduce ourselves, tell them our intentions and get some grounding on what the current plans are and how they could potentially effect our plans. As of right now when it comes to the M&B 116 in Highland Park, we have no firm direction on how or if the city will donate or lease it to our organization. This is simply something that can absolutely not happen with a 15 minute work session. However, the council seemed very enthused over the plans and are excited to meet the guys of Steam Operations. We will host a Q&A session with CFO, Scott Lindsay during his visit after spending the day on site in Meridian January 26th. This meeting will take place at Merrehope at 5:30pm. COVID restrictions will apply, so please come with a mask and stay home if displaying any symptoms.

Other things coming up: 1.) General teleconference with KCS to be held tomorrow. 2.) General teleconference with the state on Thursday. 3.) We have submitted for three grants thus far and are continuing to write for more.

As we move forward, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of those support us. We intend to open an office space within the coming months and we would love any railroad memorabilia to display until we complete our museum build out. If anyone is interested in getting involved from a more ‘hands on’ approach, please email our director at meridianrailshistoricalsociety@yahoo.com In true railroad, hard working fashion — this project is not going to require a lot of dollars from a few people... but a few dollars from a lot of people. In the realm of preservation, the impact this has for future generations to not only see but experience history is crucial. We are the last of generations to tell their story.

#KeepSteamAlive #friendsofthemb116 #foundedontherails #SteamOn