A Historical Ferry Organization

[Ferryman]

Since I was out being a Traingeek during the Royal Hudson Steam up anniversary celebration, this has seriously got me thinking on the Ferry side of this.

The WCRA puchases (and/or recieves donated?) Locomotives and different sorts of Railcars that are on display at their Heritage Railway park here in Squamish. Chances are, the old passenger cars and locomotives, are about 60 years old, or older, and are in really rough shape. But their main goal is to fully restore the piece to either be put on display, or be taken out on the rails again, like the Royal Hudson. All of the proceeds from last Saturdays event goes to further restoration of the 'Hudson.

Now if there was a Ferry Organization like this, I'm sure most of us would be involved. This organization could start off purchasing smaller Ferries, that would hold great value if it could be kept in good shape. The majority of it could be funded by donations from Ferry fans. Believe me, there are thousands of "FG's" out there. At the Northern Adventure Open house in Vancouver, there was about 2000 people who got to hop aboard for the tour. Then there was about that many or more still lined up in Canada Place by the time they had closed the gates from letting anyone else onboard.

If this organization was starting up, they could start off by at least saving the Queen of Tsawwassen. I know the Tsawwassen is secretly having some issues below decks at the moment, because she's supposed to be retired this year, and it's not their top priority to repair those things right now. But I'm sure in a Business deal with BC Ferries, you could make some "subject to's", to have those things repaired before this Ferry organization signed the papers.

I'll add more, but that means I'll be late for work....so stay tuned.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think about this. I half expecting negative attitude from this, but that's just the way this forum is these days.

[Retrovision]

I would be all too interested in this concept, as most know; let's do it and get it done.

[Mirrlees]

This sounds like a great idea in theory; but, when BC Ferries is ready to unload their ships they are sold on an "as is- where is basis.

We might have another problem too; if we buy the 'Tsawwassen where are we going to get moorage for her and can we raise enough money to keep those fees paid up?

P.S. The Kalakala Foundation went under trying to do what we are proposing.

[Balfour]

Doing something like this is a cool idea but it will take a lot of careful planning and a lot of time.

[Nick]

I would love to get involved in an organization such as what you are suggesting. Does anybody have any suggestions for fundraising?

You know, even if we (or someone) were to buy the Tsawwassen and sink her (gasp!!!!) as an artificial reef like ARSBC did with the Mackenzie class destroyers, maybe it would be better than sending her overseas. At least then ferry geeks (albeit the ones with diving certificates) could still enjoy her.

I was talking to someone who was looking into sinking HMCS Huron when the navy retired her, and he said it would have cost about $100,000 to rip all the contaminants.

I do think that there are almost as many old-ship geeks around as train geeks, so it might be a possibility to do something.

[Hardy]

a few thoughts off the cuff on this ...

a) starting a non-profit society (organization etc) is not as easy as one would think - there is A LOT of paperwork and red-tape involved.

b) you almost have to have one or two deep-pocketed sponsors to get this off the ground, as there are some fairly hefty start-up type costs.

I think that both of these have been mentioned previously in some thread or another, as I remember having similar comments then.

[Northern Exploration]

Setting up the nonprofit part is not too bad. Obtaining charitable status from Revenue Canada is a huge pain in the proverbial posterior. This is designed to help weed out some of the scammers in the area. However, it often hampers really good ideas and new charities from starting up. I suggested the last time this came up to piggy back on another charitable registration from a sympathetic charity. For example if you are going to sink a ferry for divers then raise the money as a project under one of the existing groups. Being able to give tax receipt (for tax credits to use the current terminology) for a donation means you can raise quite a bit more money. You would think the unions who's members originally built the ship and other interested parties may pony up some dollars. And if you are especially lucky some governments may contribute as well. Maybe Stevenson or Granville Island or another location close to the water is looking for a new attraction and just needs a little grease to think about a ferry. Chris the Facebook groups may be a good place to float the idea to see if there is any interest if you want to continue championing this. Maybe a type of online poll/petition maybe the first way for people to register their interest in preserving a piece of transportation on the coast.

[Mill Bay]

hardy said:

a few thoughts off the cuff on this ...

a) starting a non-profit society (organization etc) is not as easy as one would think - there is A LOT of paperwork and red-tape involved.

b) you almost have to have one or two deep-pocketed sponsors to get this off the ground, as there are some fairly hefty start-up type costs.

I think that both of these have been mentioned previously in some thread or another, as I remember having similar comments then.

You have a good memory, we had already started dicussing how to set up a historical society in the "Tsawwassen to Turkey" thread.

It's on page 2 of the thread.

However, I would suggest that the easiest moorage option for the Tsawwassen at least, when we buy her from BCFS, is to find one member who lives close the ocean... i.e.: someone who started this thread...

I'm not sure how close he is to the ocean, or the Squamish river, but maybe it just might be possible to tow the Tsawwassen up to Squamish, maybe haul her overland a little bit, and build a dry-dock for her in Chris's backyard.

[kylefossett]

start saving your pennies.

man am i glad i caught my typo before i posted. we are saving money not male organs

[Mill Bay]

Ha-ha...

Good thing, but even the inference there might start leading the mind astray.

[Hardy]

Thanks for the vote of confidence (and yes, memory is a good thing to have). I will save my pennies and also my male-specific organs as well. Please don't ever mis-spell or mis-speak PEANUT butter .....

;-P