Railroad Forums 

  • Saratoga & North Creek Railway (ex-UHRR) - 2011

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1001554  by csor2010
 
Taking a long view...I think that while the environmental groups' intentions are good (no one wants the Adirondacks to become a dumping ground) they've gone a bit far with their "all human traces must go" attitude. I expect that a lot of their frustration comes from the fact that the rail-trail proposal seemed to be a done deal and suddenly S&NC came in and bought the line out from under them. Just think about how the Adirondack Scenic people would feel about the state yanking their tracks for a bike path. That said, if the S&NC bought the line to Tahawus and the environmentalists' objections don't have legal standing, there isn't going to be much they can do about it. Honestly, I'm surprised (as are the trail people, I would imagine) that the S&NC is making the investment for the short-term business of hauling tailings. Based on the articles, NLI doesn't seem too interested in opening up the area for rare-earths mining, so once the tailings peter out it seems like S&NC will have a long branch to nowhere on their hands unless they expand their passenger service.

On that note, if I were the environmentalists, rather than fight over the railroad, why not work with them? IIRC the Alaska railroad does something where people can hop off at certain spots to go hiking/camping/etc. Maybe they could arrange something with the S&NC where they could have the passenger trains do the same sort of thing in the Boreas Canyon? The RR does pass through some very scenic areas and it would be nice for those to still be accessible. Tahawus is probably not going to be a tourist destination- I would guess that there's a good deal of contamination up there that probably won't be cleaned up for a while. Why not let the railroad do its job of handling freight out of a contaminated area while working with them to preserve access to the scenic areas enroute?
 #1001576  by Adirondacker
 
csor2010 wrote:Honestly, I'm surprised (as are the trail people, I would imagine) that the S&NC is making the investment for the short-term business of hauling tailings. Based on the articles, NLI doesn't seem too interested in opening up the area for rare-earths mining, so once the tailings peter out it seems like S&NC will have a long branch to nowhere on their hands unless they expand their passenger service.
If I did the arithmetic correctly 5 million tons of gravel is 35,000 carloads. Roughly 14 years worth of gravel if they take out 50 carloads a week. Over that 14 years the active mines will be creating more gravel.
 #1001809  by Otto Vondrak
 
Paul wrote:Just curious; are any of the ex-UHRR equipment able to be CFR-47.238-239 compliant?
What CFR section is that specifically?
 #1001811  by Otto Vondrak
 
csor2010 wrote:Alright, this makes a lot more sense with those numbers...maybe if someone could convert that to units of "dumptrucks" and show it to the opposition they might change their tune ;)
You are operating under the assumption that the "opposition" is actually seeking a resolution... Most times, these groups that claim to be "environmentally friendly" are just a thinly veiled attempt to either preserve the lack of competition (in other words, maintain the current trucking contract and eliminate all forms of competition) or simply keep the train out of their backyard ("Look how important I am! I kept the train from running because I wrote a letter! Pay attention to ME!")...

-otto-
 #1002619  by ElliotCourtney
 
There were 40 happy skiers arriving in Saratoga this evening. The crew was about to run around the consist and shove the two ex-MARC cars farther down the station track when I left. They were doing this so they could have more room to work as they have the engines all on one end. The power was the BL2 and the GE. It looked like only the dome car was used.
 #1003024  by Otto Vondrak
 
As is tradition on this site, a new thread has been opened for discussion of the S&NC in 2012:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 28&t=90311

Happy new year!

-otto-
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