(1)I have profound admiration for all of the CMRC volunteers who are performing minor miracles with very little funding.
(2)That being said, however, and writing as the catalyst who saved the U&D from demolition by Penn Central between 1976-78, it is my painful duty to conclude that all of these valiant efforts are akin to simply putting makeup on a moribund corpse.
*(3)It will take outside funding of $35-40 million or so to totally restore the U&D to FRA Class II/III status between Kingston and Roxbury, thereby making it viable for the first time as a continuous tourist railroad with an impressive 57-mile total length, having finally reached "critical mass."
(4)In the more-distant future:
(a)It is totally feasible to relay the rails from Roxbury to Grand Gorge (where an unused turntable sits), and on from there to Stamford using the ROW now occupied by a Rail Trail. This would provide a 72-mile run, to a western terminus with more "critical mass" of its own than Roxbury and easy access to a plethora of tourist attractions in a wide arc from Stamford to Cooperstown via connecting shuttle van services.
(b)Finally, the dream of Steve Delibert, late President of the U&D Historical Society, was to use the abandoned ROW of the U&D from Roxbury to West Davenport and the "D&H connector" from there to Cooperstown Junction, plus the existing former D&H trackage between Cooperstown Junction and Cooperstown, to establish a through tourist railroad all the way from Kingston to Cooperstown. While contingent upon both adequate outside funding and the feasibility of acquiring possibly-reverted ROW land parcels by condemnation if necessary, this amazing vision would actually cost less than the new Ulster County Jail in Kingston will cost to build: a fact that amazed Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who has never managed to come-through with any meaningful Federal or NY State funding (such as STEAMTOWN NHS received in Scranton, PA, and as the Adirondack Scenic Railroad received between Remsen and Thendara and between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid) in his entire Congressional career.
*(5)What is urgently required is a sustained and professional fund-raising plan, such as that which enabled the "Walkway Over The Hudson" NY State Park to be created with $30.7 million from various public and private sources, leaving only a $8.1 million deficit that is presently covered by five-year loans from Ulster Savings Bank and M&T Trust Company. Targets would be the Federal Government; New York State; Ulster, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego Counties; private foundations; large corporations; super-rich regional individuals and other suitable sources. I got involved with my own personal campaign to "save the U&D" back in 1962, at age 18, after having ridden New York Central freight OK-2 over the entire line that summer. I was 30 when I gave a 1974 speech to The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, at Kass' Inn, that started the entire U&D preservation effort rolling. I was 34 when the O'Connor Foundation of Delhi and Ulster County purchased the Kingston-Bloomville sector of the U&D from Penn Central, in 1978: too late to stop the 1965 abandonment and 1966 rail removal between Bloomville and Oneonta, but still a fantastic occurrence. I am going to be 66 in April, 2010. At the present rate of "progress", very few individuals now involved will ever live to see a proper, functioning U&D restored to the railroad tourism scene. And this is a genuine tragedy.
(6)It is therefore high time to look beyond a few spikes, bolts and ballast piles, and to get the entire job done as soon as possible for the benefit of all parties.
Last edited by DonPevsner on Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
Here's where you can send the check to...
