Specialty Restaurants, owners of the LANSDOWNE, which called the Sassafras Street dock home until the Erie Western-Pennsylvania Port Authority evicted the vessel in July 2006, has reportedly been sold for scrap to a company in Buffalo, where she is now languishing.
Work on demolishing the 1884-built vessel will begin around May 1, reportedly. The two Milwaukee Road Skytop railcars on the stern of the ship, the subject of many preservation attempts by railroad enthusiasts, are in jeopardy of seeing the cutter's torch along with the LANSDOWNE.
The following is the text of an email I received earlier this evening:
Earlier this month, Specialty Restaurants sold the Lansdowne investment
to a local scrap iron company which is slated to disassemble the
structure within the coming weeks. Unfortunately, despite Specialty's
new receptiveness to part with the cars, we were unable to rally the
same support and interest that we did a couple years back. The firm
charged with disposing of the Lansdowne is open to selling the skytops
at scrap value and has affirmed the ability to remove the cars in one
piece. There are a few individuals who have shown interest and backing
to support preservation of one or both cars; however this must be
matched with a reasonable plan and support to vacate the cars from the
site prior to May 1st. Sadly, reality dictates that the resources
necessary to mobilize for such an endeavor is likely not practical at
this point.
Anyone interested in more information about the preservation efforts can email
Lee Edgar. It's unfortunate that this seems to be the fate of the LANSDOWNE, whose owners had grand plans to restore the vessel to a floating restaurant when she arrived in Erie under tow of the tug MANITOU on November 1, 1999.
I will continue to follow this story and will update as I receive more information.
