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  • Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.
Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.

Moderators: GOLDEN-ARM, NJ Vike

 #500231  by JoeCollege
 
lvrr325 wrote:Who actually owns the ROW through those counties?
In Chenango county (the portion of the line from Earlville to Forks) the ROW is owned by the county, but Wally the Fox has it in the contract that DO or whatever entity of his has been designated, can buy the ROW and track for $1.00 at any time. The consensus in the area is that the county attorney who negotiated such a lease should be strung up a flagpole via atomic wedgie or have his personal finances dating back to the NYSW takeover of the line investigated.

 #500257  by ricebrianrice
 
Nobody will buy it for $1.00, they don't want to pay the taxes, that's why the county owns it now.

 #500312  by JoeCollege
 
ricebrianrice wrote:Nobody will buy it for $1.00, they don't want to pay the taxes, that's why the county owns it now.
NYSW will buy it for a buck if they can make more leasing the land for towers than they would pay in property taxes. NYSW/DO or their successors are the only ones with the option to buy for $1. If the county takes it back, then the land can go to NYRI via eminent domain. If another railroad buys it, the tax abatements and lease get renegotiated. I think it'll lay fallow for some time. A 2 mile or so segment from Forks to the North could possibly serve as a storage track if the switch is still intact, but that's about the only use for the foreseeable future.

 #500316  by lvrr325
 
Interesting.. I'd love to see the exact wording of that clause. It sounds like a CYA clause - wherein if the county isn't happy with the NYS&W and wants a new operator, the NYS&W could just buy the line preventing them from being thrown out.

But as mentioned I can't imagine anyone willingly buying that line and going back into private hands because of the rediculous NYS taxes. You'd need to have a pretty good sized customer come in just to break even.

Of course if the RR bought it, they could just as easily scrap the tracks and sell the land off, might even make money that way. That's probably the biggest threat they can hold over the county.

So the question becomes, what could the county do to get the RR to give up it's right to the RR without excercising the buy clause. Maybe the new management will think about it differently. Assuming someone else could be successful in generating traffic there, the NYS&W will still get at least a portion of the revenue.

Is NYRI the group behind the power lines? It seems to me that no one's really in favor of that project, if the county isn't for it I'd think they'd have a hard time with the eminent domain. Should the county take it back, they can't just bring in someone else as operator to repair the washouts and try to find some way to bring traffic to the line?

 #500375  by JoeCollege
 
NYRI is behind the lines.

NYSW has indicated that they'd sell or if the county/town/IDA/job fairy brought in a shipper to make it worthwhile, they'd rebuild (they also indicated a desire for state/federal money) to serve a big enough customer. When that happens, pigs will fly non stop free service direct from Norwich to Miami, Rio, and LAX.

There has been interest expressed in repairing the line for tourist service and some limited freight, but nothing has come of it.

 #500401  by cjvrr
 
Heck I would buy it for a dollar and turn it over to a not for profit company. That would eliminate your tax problem.

As Joe alludes to, the RR is holding all the marbles at this point and they have no incentive to re-open the line.

Depending upon the outcome of the buyout / takeover / potential consolidation deal in Joe's other thread;

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48091

the elimination of the feed mill on this line would seal its fate.

 #501826  by DH7409
 
The line is washed out south of Oxford and north of Greene, mostly in the Brisben area. It really isn't as bad as it seems. IMHO, I think the railway would like it to seem so. The county IDA owns the track.
Tim
 #502343  by henry6
 
There is no traffic originating or temrinating between Binghamton and Sherburne. Industry has left Cheango County and not been replaced. Today's railroads' do not have the authority nor the manpower to do industrial development like back in the middle of the last century; Chenango county has not gotten any new industury. So why rebuild the railroad? NRI, incidently, in a full page ad in this morning's Bing. Press and Sun Bull (and a news release last week) is showing alternate routes, including Marcy South, instead of the NYSW ROW, so I don't believe they have much to say about the NYSW.