Catskill Mountain Railroad News - 2006

Catskill Mtn. RR Brush Cutting – Saturday, April 15th

On Saturday, April 15th, we will meet just west of Cold Brook Station (MP 22.1), near the old iron bridge, about 11:00 am. The reason for the late start is that Ernie G. and George L. need to do some maintenance work on CMRR No.3, the “Kalamazoo”, our MOW train motive power.

We will load our equipment onto the MOW train there and proceed east to where we stopped at the last cutting, MP 19.8. We hope to cut to MP 19.4 or further. This will be near the former location of “siding 19”. There will be great views of the Ashokan reservoir. Be sure to bring your lunch.

The directions to Cold Brook station are to take Route 28 west from Kingston to Boiceville; at Boiceville take Route 28A west across the Esopus and over the railroad overpass; after the overpass go right (north) on Cold Brook Road about 1/2 mile to the station. Please park west of the station (it is not owned by the CMRR) anywhere west of the orange survey marker up to the old iron bridge.

As before, please bring whatever brush cutting tools you feel comfortable working with, clippers, weed eaters, chainsaws, etc. Any new volunteers are welcome.

EH

Here is where we will be starting:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 008100.jpg

Today a crew of 9 cut 2100 feet along the reservoir from MP 19.8 to MP 19.4. The line now runs straight for about a mile, through the small washout at Butternut Cove, MP 18.6, and then turns towards Ashokan, MP. 16.2.

Pictures of our work today can be seen here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR

We plan to work again on the reservoir next Saturday, April 22nd, and the tentative time is set for 9:45 am west of Cold Brook Station, weather permitting. I will confirm the details next Thursday, April 20th.

EH

Catskill Mtn. RR Brush Cutting – Saturday, April 22nd

On Saturday, April 22nd, we will meet just west of Cold Brook Station (MP 22.1), near the old iron bridge, about 10:00 am.

We will load our equipment onto the MOW train there and proceed east to where we stopped at the last cutting, MP 19.4. We hope to cut to MP 18.6, the washout at Butternut Cove. We will be working through the location of the former “Siding 19”, and the former telegraph station at MP 19.16. The section we will be working is part of a long straight section of track before the line makes its final turn to Shokan. Be sure to bring your lunch.

The directions to Cold Brook station are to take Route 28 west from Kingston to Boiceville; at Boiceville take Route 28A west across the Esopus and over the railroad overpass; after the overpass go right (north) on Cold Brook Road about 1/2 mile to the station. Please park west of the station (it is not owned by the CMRR) anywhere west of the orange survey marker up to the old iron bridge.

Chris Bigham and I may lead a second crew on Sunday the 23rd in Kingston, to try to complete our clearing project there. I will post information on this on 4/21/06 with a time and place to meet if we end up doing this.

As before, please bring whatever brush cutting tools you feel comfortable working with, clippers, weed eaters, chainsaws, etc. Any new volunteers are welcome.

EH

CMRR Brush Cutting – Sunday, April 23rd

Chris Bigham and I will be organizing a work party on Sunday to cut further in Kingston (this will be in addition to the work session on the reservoir on Saturday, April 22nd). We plan to start from the west corner of the Kingston Plaza Shopping center at 10:00 am.

Directions to our parking, from the Thruway are: Leave the Thruway at Exit 19, and proceed to the traffic circle. Follow the signs to Washington Avenue. Proceed south 1/2 mile, to Hurley Avenue (a stoplight), and make a left turn. Proceed another 1/4 mile and turn left at the stoplight into Kingston Plaza (and across the CMRR tracks). Turn left again and go to the end of the parking area (about MP 4.1).

We plan to clear the line westwards towards Washington Avenue (MP 4.4) in the morning, and after lunch finish up the Holiday Inn section (MP 4.4 to 4.5), where we quit last time. As always, any new volunteers are welcome!

EH

Even though we had heavy rains at times, thick pine trees to cut down and a rail pushed out of gauge, six of us from CMRR cleared 1800 feet today.

We made it to MP19.

I'm sure Ernie will be on here later with pictures.

We will be cutting in Kingston tomorrow. Come join us!

Chris

Today we had wet weather - we all had to wear our rainsuits! We did cut over 1800 feet, and made it to Milepost 19. The area we were cutting in formerly had a siding and telegraph office, and was known only as "Siding 19". About where the old telegraph office foundation was, we had a gauge problem - the rails were about 5 inches too narrow. George Cook, a former railroader, came to the rescue with a hydraulic jack, and with a log he used this to pry apart the rails. Since the ties were bad here, we had to use small logs as gauge bars!

After the narrow track, we went over a section of the track that was passable, but on settled fill (the CMRR repaired this area several years ago after a beaver dam caused a washout).

Then we got to a thick pine forest that really slowed us down. We quit at Milepost 19.

I walked ahead, and the thick trees continue for 300 feet, then start thinning out considerably. At MP 18.75, I saw a small washout, where the track is passable due to cribbing installed by the CMRR. There is a larger one at Butternut Cove at MP 18.57, which we did not walk down to.

After that the brush and trees thin out considerably. We will be back here next Saturday, April 29th, to push through this area, and we hope to cover a lot more ground.

In the meantime, we are meeting in Kingston tomorrow, to wrap up our cutting project there. Please come! Details are posted above.

Here are our photos from today:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR


EH

Today Chris Bigham and I cut about 275 feet in Kingston at the western end of the Kingston Plaza Shopping Center. It rained the whole time, so we were pretty limited in what we could do, but it helped us to reduce the remaining track to be cleared in Kingston to about 1000 feet between where we stopped today and Washington Avenue (there is a small amount left by the Holiday Inn as well).

Pictures of the track we cleared today are posted here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR

We are planning to work in Kingston next Sunday, April 30th, to try to finish the last 1000 foot section, getting the line completely clear in Kingston for the first time in many years.

EH

I took a look at railbikes again, after ignoring the subject for a long time. There's now a company selling railbikes for the explicit purpose of keeping tracks in use. Some entrepreneurial person could sublet the tracks from the CMRR and run a railbike tour company. Whether or not CMRR actually earned any money on the sublease, the tracks would be kept in use, the tracks would be SEEN to be in use (which is a separate issue), and miscreants wouldn't expect the tracks to be private.

http://www.railbike.com/

And when one of those railbikes derails, or gets hit at a crossing, the publicity about the lawsuit will inform EVERYBODY that the line is still active.

Driving home on the Thruway from my camping trip up in Castleton, I noticed something as I whizzed past the Kingston exit... TRACKS! For the first time in years, I could actually see the U&D tracks that run under the Thruway! All I had ever seen before now was a line of brush 4'-8.5" apart.

I'm being serious- good job, the fruits of your labor are readily evident!

Aji-tater wrote:And when one of those railbikes derails, or gets hit at a crossing, the publicity about the lawsuit will inform EVERYBODY that the line is still active.

For anything worth doing, there is always at least one person who will say it isn't.

Otto Vondrak wrote:I'm being serious- good job, the fruits of your labor are readily evident!

Hehe, that's the fruits of *my* labor! I just happened to be there on the day they (we!) worked on the most (as you say) visible section of rail. I wish that I lived closer and could pitch in more often. But at least with Ernie's postings, I can participate vicariously. Thanks for the status reports, it's great to hear how far you've gotten.

Catskill Mountain RR Brush Cutting – Saturday, April 29th and Sunday April 30th

On Saturday, April 29th, we will meet just west of Cold Brook Station (MP 22.1), near the old iron bridge, about 10:00 am.

We will load our equipment onto the MOW train there and proceed east to where we stopped at the last cutting, MP 19.0. We hope to cut past MP 18.6, the washout at Butternut Cove. The section we will be cutting is part of a long straight section of track before the line makes its final turn to Shokan. Be sure to bring your lunch.

The directions to Cold Brook station are to take Route 28 west from Kingston to Boiceville; at Boiceville take Route 28A west across the Esopus and over the railroad overpass; after the overpass go right (north) on Cold Brook Road about 1/2 mile to the station. Please park west of the station (it is not owned by the CMRR) anywhere west of the orange survey marker up to the old iron bridge.

On Sunday, April 30th, we will organize a second work crew in Kingston, to complete our clearing project there. We plan to start from the rear of the Ulster Savings Bank, 180 Schwenck Avenue, at 10:00 am, and work west towards Washington Avenue. Forecast is sunny with a high of 64 degrees, so good cutting weather!

Directions to our parking, from the Thruway are: Leave the Thruway at Exit 19, and proceed to the traffic circle. Follow the signs to Washington Avenue. Drive south 4/10ths of a mile, and just after crossing the CMRR tracks, turn left into the Ulster Savings Bank parking lot. Proceed as far as you can to the rear of the lot. We will park there as they are closed on Sundays. We will start at the far end by the switch (MP 4.26) and work back towards Washington Avenue (MP 4.37).

As before, please bring whatever brush cutting tools you feel comfortable working with, clippers, weed eaters, brush cutters, chainsaws, etc. Any new volunteers are welcome.

EH

I'll be there.

Any new volunteers are always welcome!!

Chris

What is the status of the Boiceville Trestle repair?