Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2015

"On Tuesday, May 19, the Ulster County Legislature voted 17 to 6 to endorse a deal between the county and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to build an 11.5-mile hiking, walking and biking trail along the northern shore of the Ashokan Reservoir. The vote begins the process of funding and planning the trail -- and dashes the hopes of railroad enthusiasts who want to preserve the tracks along the route."

http://www.watershedpost.com/2015/ulste ... nd-no-rail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The final decision will be made by the special legislative committee that was recently created to study the issue. Their report is due November 30th. Also, by resolution, no rails can be lifted without the consent of the legislature.

Also, we recently filmed the ROW from our passenger end of track at MP 6.3 to the Glenford Dike. See below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndMpmIixNkg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EH

Forgive me but I don't understand this... I thought a few weeks back the ulster county legislature voted 21-1 in favor of going back to the start line and revisiting the whole rail vs. trail issue to take another look at the whole thing. And didn't they set up a "special committee" to help revisit this issue at that time? And now they turn around and just a few weeks later they vote 17-6 in favor of going forward with the trail? What happened?

2nd vote was considered "non committal", so basically free money with no commitment to build the trail by UC. EH

My fear (and fears can be irrational) is that the professional NYS DEP bureaucrats are playing the amateur Ulster County legislators for rubes and hicks. By my estimation, they are paying $2.5M to destroy the railroad's perpetual easement and convert it into a cancel-upon-notice easement. If I'm right, then Ulster County will end up with neither a railroad nor a trail.

From the NYS DEP's point of view, $2.5M is cheap at the price. Chump change, going to chumps.

To all:

Below are links to the NYCDEP MOA and questions posed to it by legislators and their answers from the County. Kingston operations are not at risk - only the Ashokan easement that starts at MP 10. We are confident that when this is all over, we will be able to go as far as the Glenford Dike at MP 11 with the train as the ROW is wide enough to easily accommodate rail and trail through that point.

After that is of course up in the air. But as many legislators are beginning to realize, the next 8 miles of the ROW is a tree tunnel and the trail should really hug the shores of the reservoir in this area. Also the reliance on railbanking to force the DEP to open up the reservoir for a trail, for a property that has been out of the federal system for almost 40 years, is questionable at best.

The good thing is that many legislators are spending the time to actually look at the corridor in person. It is all a step in the direction of an ultimate compromise that should be agreed to by the end of the year that will include some form of tourist train operation on the Kingston end of the RR.

EH

Here is the MOA:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/265392825/Ash ... -Contractf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note the reliance on railbanking to make this work (section 3), which is odd as the line has been out of federal jurisdiction since 1977. The only way to railbank the line is to bring in a freight carrier, ship freight, get under federal jurisdiction, then abandon the line. This is why Russ's comments above are spot-on.

And the County's response to legislator questions:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/265390056/Res ... ure-on-MOA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russ may be right on that. NYC fiercely protects its water supply and I find it hard to believe they would want that sort of hiking trail so close to their water supply. They have been buying up property near their reservoirs to protect it from develoment and pollution so it makes sense to spend that money to block anything later.

Saturday, May 23rd

Walt Otto continued work on Coach 2949.

Neil Remsen worked on the 12 person cart at the yard.

At Mt. Tremper, Art Vogel, George Peck and Joe Michaels worked on engine 407 and the Duck.

In Kingston, John Patane was engineer, John Prestopino was Conductor, Point Protection was John Marino, flaggers were Dave Hilliard, Al Schoessow, Karl Wick and Tom Whyte, car attendant was Linda Marino, and Pat Smalley was ticket agent. At 5pm we had a special train for two fallen soldiers and their families that was set up by George Bain and Matt Gillis.

At Mt. Tremper, Dave Heick was engineer, Ray Farrell Conductor, Dan Howard Brakeman and Bill Kaba and Tyler Carelli were Car attendants. Russ Hallock was ticket agent.



Sunday, May 24th

Jeff Otto, Al Schoessow and Martin Elbrecht spiked and plated ties in Kingston.

At Mt. Tremper, Earl Pardini was engineer. Walt Otto was conductor. Bruce Devorkin was ticket agent.


Monday, May 25th

At Mt. Tremper, Dave Heick was engineer, Tyler Carelli was brakeman, and Walt Otto was conductor. Bruce Devorkin was ticket agent.

Neil Remsen and Harrison Balduf worked on the 12 man cart at Cornell Street.




Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Updated Video, MP 6.3 to 11.3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7yl7OUV768" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EH

Wednesday May 27th

There was a charter at Mt. Tremper. Engineer was Dave Heick, Conductor was Dave Hilliard, Point Protection was Tyler Carelli, and Thom Johnson was car attendant.


Friday May 29th

Joe Michaels and Greg Peck picked up parts for the 407 in Connecticut.


Saturday, May 30th

Walt Otto and Jim Bruck continued work on Coach 2949.

At Phoenicia, George Peck, Art Vogel, Tyler Carelli and Hunter Downie worked on track.

In Kingston, John Patane and Jeff Otto worked on track. Ernie Klopping and Al Schoessow worked on the tamper.

In Kingston, Earl Pardini was engineer, Neil Remsen was Conductor, Point Protection was John Marino, flaggers were Harold Anderson and Karl Wick, and Thom Johnson and Pat Smalley were ticket agents.

At Mt. Tremper, Dave Heick was engineer, Ray Farrell Conductor, Neil Isabelle Brakeman. Bruce Devorkin was ticket agent.



Sunday, May 31st

Jeff Otto, Al Schoessow and John Prestopino spiked and plated ties in Kingston.

At Mt. Tremper, Earl Pardini was engineer. Walt Otto was conductor. Tyler Carelli was point protection. Bruce Devorkin was ticket agent.





Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

That could be one amazing ride! Where does the track go from the West Hurley switch?

it just goes about 100 yards

You know just a thought... IF you guys could get your switch re-installed to the csx river line, the west hurley team track could be used for car storage. And I am not talking about your own cars. I'm referring to offering car storage to csx. As I understand it there is big money to be made in car storage.

If not then what are your plans for the west hurley team track? It seems to me this could be quite useful to your operation.

CMRR would like to get that switch back in, but the problem is CSX. High volume main line. A new switch would be $250k++

thebigham wrote:CMRR would like to get that switch back in, but the problem is CSX. High volume main line. A new switch would be $250k++

Highway robbery, I mean railroad robbery!

According to wikipedia, the county paid for the switch to be put back in at one point...so the switch was removed, put back in, then removed again?