After 25 years of successful operations, the Old Colony & Newport Railway had to enter into a major political and legal battle to continue its operations on the Newport Secondary track.

The Old Colony & Newport Railway had been ordered by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to either
  • sign an operating agreement that would give total control of its operations to the Newport Dinner Train, or
  • shut down its operations by November 19, 2004.
Concerted efforts by the Civic leaders of Newport County had to be mustered. As a result of that effort, RIDOT management reversed that mandate, granted an 'extention', and agreed to negotiate directly with the OCNRR.

The result was a separate 5-year operating agreement between RIDOT and the Old Colony & Newport Railway.

501(c)3 tax implications


Old Colony & Newport Railway - Newport, RI

Click here to see the January 19, 2005
version of the agreement.

Click here to see the December 2004
version of the agreement.

Review the History of this Issue
This is a 29 slide PowerPoint presentation
that was given to local civic leaders
in late October 2004.

[You will want to click on the slides to review the details on each slide.
You can hit Esc at anytime to leave the presentation.].