Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum has a dream and long-term goal to rebuild the railroad southward about two miles and build a passenger facility near the Wiscasset line, railroad superintendent and museum board member Jason Lamontagne told Alna selectmen April 23. 

The nonprofit's slide presentation stated the facility will be "refined and respectable," and Lamontagne said it will be better designed for parking than the Cross Road, Alna museum is.

Lamontagne said much has to happen to realize the goal.

"There's a lot of decisions and unknowns and factors to work through. And at the rate we work, we're measuring this large goal in many, many years," Lamontagne said. "This is not soon."

However, the museum wants to get started, with a first step the slides called "a down payment on that dream": Seeking several agencies' permission to do the first half-mile, in a project the museum is calling "The Southern Gateway."

A slide read: "The Southern Gateway offers several immediate advantages for the railway, including introducing our operation to safety regulation oversight by the Federal Railroad Administration, allowing the Museum to demonstrate that all aspects of our railroad activities meet federal and industry safety standards, easing pedestrian and train congestion at our Sheepscot Station platform, especially when two trains are operating, allowing us to apply careful focus on the complex permitting challenge of crossing a public way (Cross Road) and then through an environmentally sensitive area."

According to the presentation, OKs are needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to replace three culverts and do a "short segment" of stream shoreline reinforcement; Maine Department of Transportation, for the railroad to cross a public way; the Federal Railroad Administration, which will inspect and ensure the safety of the operation; Alna Planning Board, for shoreland and floodplain permits; and Maine Department of Environmental Protection, for a Natural Resources Protection Act (NRPA) permit.

Wetlands and vernal pools will "dictate how our project is designed and our permits are structured," a slide read. The museum said it is not asking to alter any wetlands or vernal pools. 

The museum plans boulder walls to prevent contact with wetlands. It also plans to use "other modern civil engineering concepts to ensure that our installation is entirely self-contained ... The Railway Museum is making its best effort to mitigate the effects of our current and proposed future activities on Alna's natural landscape."

The museum noted it is made up of "history enthusiasts who care passionately about the past, present and future of Sheepscot Valley's Narrow Gauge Railroad. We want to share our passion with the broader community. We want to serve our neighbors in Alna just as the narrow gauge did 100 years ago. We are seeking a sustainable, vibrant future for our Museum which blends in and adds to Alna's charm. We thank the Town of Alna for your many years of support."

Since its start in 1989, the museum has rebuilt three and a half miles of track from Cross Road northward to near Head Tide.

Resident Sherry Lyons, niece of the museum's founder, Harry Percival, asked why culverts would be replaced as part of the Southern Gateway project.

Lamontagne responded, they are degrading, and it is more practical to replace them before rail line is built over them than after.

On another question from Lyons, Lamontagne said he will be discussing with the museum board the possibility of installing at museum culverts the non-lethal beaver flow devices the town will be installing at town-owned ones. "Right now, we do engage a trapper ... We're interested (in the beaver baffles)." He said it would mean an investment on the museum's part, but the museum fully favors things that mitigate neighbor concerns or help do a job better.

Also April 23, Third Selectman Coreysha Lothrop reported the town has won another $5,000 toward getting its beaver flow devices. The grant is an Assistance with Specific Know-How (ASK) one from Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission, she said. Selectmen went on to award the contract to the lone bidder, Beaver Deceivers inventor Skip Lisle and Beaver Deceivers LLC, to install the systems as funds become available, starting with the combined $14,000 in current town and grant funding. Lisle, of Grafton, Vermont, told the board last December, beavers have tremendous ecological and hydrological value, and killing them only creates a vacancy that draws more beavers.

Lothrop is awaiting word on another $13,000 in possible grants for the systems.