atlantis wrote:When the portion of the Falmouth line from the renovated Falmouth depot to North Falmouth was removed, there was a previous rail with trail plan until then state rep. Eric Turkington and his compatriots were able to convince the state to go for the trail only despite the fact that over two million dollars was spent to renovate Falmouth station including a (then) new platform constructed in 1990 that never saw a train. Also, at the time, the then-embryonic Cape Cod Central railroad had a plan to repair the line at its own expense for trips to Falmouth. Granted the Falmouth branch was out of service at its lower portion, and for whatever reason, the pro rail people failed to speak up, as many of them said privately that they were hoping the trains would return.
A similar battle is going on at the Adirondack Scenic railroad where a group of trail-only people are trying to pressure New York state to remove the tracks at Lake Placid, even though portions of the line are active and volunteers are trying to repair the portion of line at Lake Placid for excursion service. My point being that removal or trying to remove an active rail line for a recreational trail sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country. In my opinion, it was bad enough that the state removed the Falmouth line from North Falmouth to Falmouth center. We need to ensure that the remaining rail infrastructure on the Cape is not removed, or at least made out of the question to remove, lest anyone tries to gat the state to remove the active portions of the lines.
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