County files with STB to use Hospital Branch for rail trail

Dutchess County is asking to use 4.7 miles of abandoned track as a trail. See attached link to STB site.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 211643.pdf

There goes the NYER... there goes the Hospital Branch!

-otto-

Very sad to see this trackage go. On a side note, perhaps this information could have been added to the " New York & Eastern files for abandonment 6/24 " thread. Just a thought....

ASD

I am sad to see this old piece of RR history go. It is older than the Pok Bridge and once connected Pok to Connecticut. It also connects with what once was an active piece of the Maybrook, with an active set of crossing flashers to boot!

On the bright side, if it DOES become a railtrail, maybe we (the taxpayers who drive Rte 9 every day!) can force Marist students to use the RR underpass to access the campus and NOT walk across the hiway! Between dropping the speed limit from 40 to 30 during school hours and the delays for Walk signals (not to mention those idiots who cross wherever they please!), it takes an extra 10 minutes just to get thru the area during the school year. And no, I am not exaggerating...

Another bit of trivia: the trolly line ran ON the Hospital Branch from Parker Ave to the Hospital. The old brick trolley station still stands on the Hospital grounds.

The STB site now includes a response by CSX accepting the County's offer to use the abandoned track for trail purposes.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... enDocument

i didn't read the whole stb string; I assume the rails will be lifted. Sorry to say, there's enough blame for a whole lot of people that made sure this branch wasn't reactivated- NYSDOT, City and towns of poughkeepsie, and I believe csx was at fault also. Contrary to popular (!!!) belief, there were customers that wanted service....NY and Dutchess county are anti railroad, deja vu all over again, like Yogi says.....

Work safe

Derail

If the customers really wanted rail service, they could have filed their protests with the STB... I don't think it's entirely that one-sided?

-otto-

I'm sure they could have protested with the stb, but the DOT and townships made it impossible for the owner to start up, and he packed it in. Just wasn't gonna happen. What a shame, another missed opportunity.

Work safe

Derail

There WERE once shippers wanting service, but some of them have closed and moved on. Marist College is expanding its campus all along the east side of Rte 9 (making it even less business-friendly). The previous mayor, Lafuente, made it CLEAR she did not want any trucks in the city that a transfer facility on Smith Street would have brought.

All in all, when it comes to economic "development," the only kind that gets any support in this entire county is housing/ shopping. Dutchess is becoming nothing but a suburb of Westchester and NYC.

*Texaco Research in Glenham (Fishkill): closed- used to get petrolium tankers

*Bry Dain Lumber, Hopewell: (now Williams) lost rail service when Housatonic/ MTA took over Maybrook

*A. C. Dutton Lumber, Pokip: gone- was right off the main line!

*Great Eastern Lithographic, Pokip: lost rail service when CSX dropped Hospital Branch

*Star Gas, the former JC Paper and Blocksom sites, all on Hospital Br

These are all potential rail-customer sites in the county, but nothing has been done to develop them for the REAL jobs that industry provides. Just a scrap-metal transfer by Marist, and far as I know, this is the ONLY freight service in the county!

I worked with the owner of the NY&E; I spoke to the owner of Great eastern in June, and he wanted service. The outfit that is loading scrap from the burn plant was to move his operation to Smith st from CNE yard, and there is a factory in Wappingers falls that makes soda bottles who was going to get plastic pellets to smith st and offload to trucks. So the customers were (are) real. As I said, this is a shame..another missed opportunity. Dutchess county is anti-rr....shame on all of 'em

Work safe

Derail

I thought there was still a CSX customer in Chelsea on the Hudson Line, roughly 2 miles north of Beacon??

ASD

The town does not want trucks at smith street, there is more than enough room at CNE yard or other industrial zones on the Hudson waterfront to do any of the bussnises you discribe without bothering the the streets with trucks in residential area's

I found a topo map and I highlighted the Hospital Branch switchback... could someone be a pal and help me locate customers that once existed on the branch?

http://www.tsny.com/otto/poughkeepsie.jpg

-otto-

Otto, you need to highlight the NH Maybrook Line east to Creek Road, as that is where it ended with Great Eastern Lithigraph as a customer (the last one). JC Sears was on Fulton Street, as was Blocksom Inc. Scrap dealer was at Smith Street Yard...

ASD