New Adirondack Scenic Thread (ADIX)

[rhallock]

Perhaps this will give Rail Explorers another chance to revive their popular rail-bike operation. They failed to get going in the Catskills this year.

[tree68]

ARTA will undoubtedly appeal. For that matter, if the judge had ruled in their favor, they just would have started on getting rid of the rails south of Tupper.

They won't be happy until everyone is out of their woods.

[Otto Vondrak]

Was ARTA one of the parties named in the lawsuit? I thought the ARPS lawsuit was against the state agencies involved in executing the plan, and ARTA was just their loudest cheerleader.

-otto-

[workextra]

Should the day come that the railroad wins and gets the opertunity to run its full length.
Would there be any chance of partnering with Amtrak, Mero North or both to run through from NYC? Or possibly run down to Pokeepsie and at least connecting to MN trackage rights? I can only see this benifiting their cause and further proving their point. Run Friday's through late Sunday night. Seasonal service.

[Noel Weaver]

You could say that anything is possible. Probably the best hope here would be a weekend resort train operation by Amtrak in the summer or ski season. My question is how well something like that would do financially? The recent Amtrak special with the private cars which was an Amtrak train proves that Amtrak has confidence in the track and the ability of Adirondack Scenic to operate this special. Anything beyond this would probably not work out.
Noel Weaver

[ut-1]

Otto Vondrak asked:

Was ARTA one of the parties named in the lawsuit? I thought the ARPS lawsuit was against the state agencies involved in executing the plan, and ARTA was just their loudest cheerleader.

-otto-[/quote]

ARTA was not a respondent in the lawsuit. They did file an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief, however.

[ut-1]

Here's a short video showing the Utica-Thendara-Big Moose train heading through Otter Lake earlier today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqHomaKj9jk

[Otto Vondrak]

Would there be any chance of partnering with Amtrak, Mero North or both to run through from NYC? Or possibly run down to Pokeepsie and at least connecting to MN trackage rights? I can only see this benifiting their cause and further proving their point. Run Friday's through late Sunday night. Seasonal service.

Kindly, there are many places that can help you with your substance abuse problem. Asking for help is the first step.

-otto-

[CP4743]

Very positive news but as everyone does their happy dance don't loose sight of the fact there is likely to be an appeal and it is still not a given that NYSDOT will issue an operating permit for anything north of Big Moose. This is what happened in 1981 after ADRC filed bankruptcy and the corridor went into hibernation maintained only by beavers and mother nature until it was a washed out mess when operations resumed in 1992.

This is why maybe they should have taken the money and run to get the line to Tupper up to 40 mph. Hard for the trail people to take it once the state invests millions to rebuild.

As of now...

Worst Case = Ruling stands and the rails from Big Moose to Lake Placid rot away for the next 40 years. If the state gets defeated I do not see them being inclined to give out an operating contract or invest millions. And as much as everyone likes to hate Cuomo, I do not see a Republican governor dropping millions of taxpayer dollars into this line. I also do not see many...ANY... private operators willing to front THEIR OWN cash to upgrade this line. And no I do not support a trail which is REALLY wasting taxpayer dollars. If the trail is such a great investment for all the local business, lets put a trail tax on every local business in the counties served by the trail. This can fund the trail and it's upkeep.

As much as so many think this line only works with Lake Placid as a "destination" I do not buy it. Of course the ultimate compromise win in my opinion is a trail from LP to Saranac which seems to be the corridor the trail people are so excited about and a train to Saranac which is close enough to Lake Placid and the "destination".

[tree68]

I do not see a Republican governor dropping millions of taxpayer dollars into this line.

Actually, the Pataki administration did put money into the line. All but the minumum contributions ended when the other party took over. And then there's the matter of the DEC contribution - something they were supposed to be doing right alongside DOT. And they haven't.

[R92]

New Adirondack Scenic Railroad pictures are posted from the Utica-Thendara trip from 9/29/2017 on the NERAIL Railroad Photo website:

http://photos.greatrails.net/show/?order=byrail&page=1&key=5&key2=

[ut-1]

Watch as the Adirondack Scenic spooks a few deer as No. 1502 leads its train northbound through Marcy yersterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK_-sdlfrhs&t=1s

[Matt Langworthy]

I do not see a Republican governor dropping millions of taxpayer dollars into this line.

Actually, the Pataki administration did put money into the line. All but the minumum contributions ended when the other party took over. And then there's the matter of the DEC contribution - something they were supposed to be doing right alongside DOT. And they haven't.

Pataki was a moderate, which is a rare breed in the GOP these days. The fiscal hawks are running the Republican show now, so it is unlikely ADIX will find a strong ally there. And as long as Keets remains a major influence for the Dems, their support for ADIX will be tepid at best. I know it seems like a long shot, but the best hope for ADIX is a wealthy benefactor. The RR shouldn't put their faith in either political party.

[Matt Langworthy]

Should the day come that the railroad wins and gets the opertunity to run its full length.
Would there be any chance of partnering with Amtrak, Mero North or both to run through from NYC? Or possibly run down to Pokeepsie and at least connecting to MN trackage rights? I can only see this benifiting their cause and further proving their point. Run Friday's through late Sunday night. Seasonal service.

Amtrak already has 4 eastbound and 4 westbound trains servicing Utica. Those trains are not usually full, so there isn't a need to add more Amtrak trains at this time. On the other hand, ADIX could potentially partner with the ski resorts to run ski trains from Utica to the slopes, which could leverage connections from the existing Amtrak trains in both directions. I think the partnership would hinge on convincing the ski resorts that ADIX could bring in additional customers. It might be a challenge since most ski resorts in the Adirondacks are already profitable.

[tree68]

Then there's those pesky snowmobiles, who "own" the ROW December 1 through spring...

I suspect you'd see a pretty good fight if someone tried to get trains running in the winter along the corridor.