In other news, dealing with the ABR (Anything But Rail) crowd:

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... qus_thread

^The CMRR broke ridership records this Fall. It is shocking to me how badly the CMRR is treated in the Phoenicia/Shandaken area.

Is that the same elderly flower child that was so upset over the equipment even existing a few months ago?

I think the issue the permit was altered when it should have been researched before, its valueless for the CMRR as it is.

Thursday, December 1st

Earl Pardini, John Marino, Mark Glaser, Vince Guido and Tom Whyte worked in the JR cut, and cleaned several hundred feet of drainage ditches. They also ditched the HMR cut and did some work in the JR cut with the backhoe and tamped several ties near MP 6.


Friday 12/2

John Marino was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, David Motzkin, Tony Bocchino and Peter Fluchere. Mark Glaser and George Balduf assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Elissa Hilliard, Karin Vogel, Marcia Roosa and Meg Carey. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Saturday 12/3

Earl Pardini was Engineer, Ray Farrell was Conductor, John Marino was Brakeman. The flaggers were Martin Elbrecht, Bruce Devorkin, Tony Bocchino, Russ Hallock, Joe Wolff, Peter Fluchere and George Balduf. Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation. Dave Hilliard assisted where needed. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Elissa Hilliard, Linda Marino, Karin Vogel and Meg Carey. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.

Art Vogel, Dave Heick and I worked in the Phoenicia yard on yard cleanup.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234257


Sunday, December 4th

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Tony Bocchino was Conductor, Karl Wick was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Russ Hallock, George Balduf and Joe Wolff. Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation and Dave Hilliard assisted where needed. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Elissa Hilliard Karin Vogel, Jan Harrison, and Fayth Ryder.

Vince Guido loaded old ties at Cold Brook.

We carried nearly 4000 passengers in 11 trains this weekend in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this third successful weekend for Polar Express.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Thursday, December 8th

Earl Pardini led a crew that repaired a dot defect and a loose joint bar in the Route 209 crossing. Crew consisted of Earl Pardini, Edwin Winstanley, Todd Syska, Mark Glaser, Peter Fluchere, Joe Wolff, Vince Guido and John Marino. After lunch tamping was done from 5.90 to 6.3.



Friday December 9th

On Friday, Earl Pardini, John Marino and Mark Glaser did trackwork west of the North Pole.

Also, Dave Hilliard, Ernie Klopping and Earl Pardini installed a toilet in 1727.

Earl Pardini was Engineer, Dave Hilliard was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, David Motzkin, Tony Bocchino and Peter Fluchere. Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation. Jim Bruck set up the parking lot barricades. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Elissa Hilliard, Karin Vogel, Kathy Schneider and Meg Carey. Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent and provided hot coffee, tea and homemade chicken soup.
Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Saturday 12/10

Dave Hilliard was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, John Marino was Brakeman, Martin Elbrecht was brakeman trainee. The flaggers were Bruce Devorkin, Russ Hallock, Joe Wolff, Peter Fluchere and Steve Stanton. Mark Glaser and Tony Bocchino assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Jan Harrison, Karin Vogel, Marcia Roosa, Fayth and Dakota Ryder.

Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent which provided hot coffee, tea and homemade vegetable tortellini soup and also kept the dinner warm. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.

Art Vogel, Dave Heick, Harry Jameson and I brought the 29 back to the Phoenicia yard as well as picked up some items on the ROW. This was the last CMRR train on the west end of the railroad, ending 35 seasons of CMRR rail operations there:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234322

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234323

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234328

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234329

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234330

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234331

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234333



Sunday, December 11th

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Tony Bocchino was Conductor, Karl Wick was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Joe Wolff and Chris Ruger. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley and Linda Marino. Linda Marino and Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent which provided hot coffee, tea and also kept the dinner warm.


We carried nearly 4000 passengers in 11 trains this weekend in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this fourth successful weekend for Polar Express.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Thursday, December 8th

Earl Pardini led a crew that repaired a dot defect and a loose joint bar in the Route 209 crossing. Crew consisted of Earl Pardini, Edwin Winstanley, Todd Syska, Mark Glaser, Peter Fluchere, Joe Wolff, Vince Guido and John Marino. After lunch tamping was done from 5.90 to 6.3.



Friday December 9th

On Friday, Earl Pardini, John Marino and Mark Glaser did trackwork west of the North Pole.

Also, Dave Hilliard, Ernie Klopping and Earl Pardini installed a toilet in 1727.

Earl Pardini was Engineer, Dave Hilliard was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, David Motzkin, Tony Bocchino and Peter Fluchere. Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation. Jim Bruck set up the parking lot barricades. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Elissa Hilliard, Karin Vogel, Kathy Schneider and Meg Carey. Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent and provided hot coffee, tea and homemade chicken soup.
Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Saturday 12/10

Dave Hilliard was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, John Marino was Brakeman, Martin Elbrecht was brakeman trainee. The flaggers were Bruce Devorkin, Russ Hallock, Joe Wolff, Peter Fluchere and Steve Stanton. Mark Glaser and Tony Bocchino assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Jan Harrison, Karin Vogel, Marcia Roosa, Fayth and Dakota Ryder.

Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent which provided hot coffee, tea and homemade vegetable tortellini soup and also kept the dinner warm. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.

Art Vogel, Dave Heick, Harry Jameson and I brought the 29 back to the Phoenicia yard as well as picked up some items on the ROW. This was the last CMRR train on the west end of the railroad, ending 35 seasons of CMRR rail operations there:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234322

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234323

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234328

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234329

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234330

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234331

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=234333



Sunday, December 11th

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Tony Bocchino was Conductor, Karl Wick was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Joe Wolff and Chris Ruger. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley and Linda Marino. Linda Marino and Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent which provided hot coffee, tea and also kept the dinner warm.


We carried nearly 4000 passengers in 11 trains this weekend in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this fourth successful weekend for Polar Express.



Ernie Hunt
President
CMRR

Friday December 16th


John Marino was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman, Jordan Torregrosa was brakeman trainee. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Harrison Balduf, Edwin Winstanley and Peter Fluchere. Dave Hilliard and Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation. Jim Bruck set up the parking lot barricades. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Doris Morehouse and Jan Harrison. Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent and provided hot coffee, tea and homemade vegetable tortellini soup. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.



Saturday 12/17

Earl Pardino was Engineer, Dave Hilliard was Conductor, Tony Bocchino was Brakeman. The flaggers were Martin Elbrecht, Joe Wolff, Jordan Torregrosa, Harrison Balduf and Peter Fluchere. Mark Glaser and assisted with the train operation. Martin Elbrecht, Harrison Balduf and Matt Gillis did a great job on snow removal! Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Jan Harrison, and Karin Vogel. Linda Marino and Jan Harrison worked the food tent which provided hot coffee and tea and kept the dinner warm. Jan also provided homemade soup. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.



Sunday, December 18th

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Tony Bocchino was Conductor, Karl Wick was Brakeman. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Joe Wolff, Russ Hallock and Bruce Devorkin. Dave Hilliard assisted where needed. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Karin Vogel, Fayth and Dakota Ryder. Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent which provided hot coffee, tea and also kept the dinner warm.


We carried nearly 4000 passengers in 11 trains this weekend in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this fifth successful weekend for Polar Express.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

^Congrats to the CMRR.

That's 19,000 paying customers who have come to Kingston for a train ride!

Wednesday December 21st

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Dave Hilliard was Conductor, John Marino was Brakeman, Jordan Torregrosa was brakeman trainee. The flaggers were Ernie Klopping, Bruce Devorkin, Harrison Balduf, David Motzkin and Joe Wolff. Tony Bocchino and Hunter Downie assisted with the train operation. Jim Bruck set up the parking lot barricades. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley and Elissa Hilliard. Elissa Hilliard also worked the food tent. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Thursday December 22nd

Earl Pardini was Engineer, Dave Hilliard was Conductor, John Marino was Brakeman. The flaggers were Bryan Wade, Joe Wolff, Harrison Balduf, Russ Hallock and Bruce Devorkin. Hunter Downie and Jordan Torregrosa assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Elissa Hilliard and Kathy Snyder. Elissa Hilliard also worked the food tent. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Friday, December 23rdth

John Marino was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman. The flaggers were Bruce Devorkin, Tony Bocchino, Joe Wolff, George Bain and Peter Fluchere. Dave Hilliard assisted where needed. Folks in the gift shop were: Elissa Hilliard, Pat Smalley and Karin Vogel. Elissa Hilliard worked the food tent and provided homemade chicken & rice soup. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


We carried 2500 passengers in 7 trains last week in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this sixth successful week for Polar Express.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Monday December 26th

Tom Whyte was Engineer, Neil Remsen was Conductor, Tony Bocchino was Brakeman. The flaggers were Steve Stanton, Russ Hallock, George Bain, Dave Hilliard, Joe Wolff and Bruce Devorkin. Hunter Downie assisted with the train operation. Jim Bruck set up the parking lot barricades. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Karin Vogel and Elissa Hilliard. Elissa Hilliard also worked the food tent. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Tuesday December 27th

Dave Hilliard was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, Tom Whyte was Brakeman. The flaggers were Bruce Devorkin, Ernie Klopping, Tony Bocchino, Joe Wolff and Peter Fluchere. Neil Remsen assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Karin Vogel and Elissa Hilliard. Elissa Hilliard also worked the food tent. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.


Wednesday, December 28th

Earl Pardini was Engineer, Hunter Downie was Conductor, Karl Wick was Brakeman. The flaggers were Bruce Devorkin, Tony Bocchino, Joe Wolff, Ernie Klopping and Peter Fluchere. Dave Hilliard, John Marino, Tom Whyte and Mark Glaser assisted with the train operation. Folks in the gift shop were: Pat Smalley, Karin Vogel, Elissa Hilliard and Linda Marino. Elissa Hilliard also worked the food tent. Matt Gillis was in charge of the event.

Mark Glaser and John Marino did trackwork Wednesday morning.

All of the above volunteers plus Jim Bruck helped to tear down and store all of the polar stuff into the storage containers.


We carried just over 24,000 passengers in 71 trains in Kingston. Congrats to all who contributed to this 3rd successful year for Polar Express.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

To all:

2016 was a year of highs and lows for the CMRR. The biggest loss was the end of our 25 year lease where we exclusively controlled the U&D corridor in Ulster County. However, along with the end of that lease, came the end of the litigation with Ulster County which cost us $700,000 over three years. In the end, the litigation was a complete success for the CMRR as it allowed the CMRR to finish out the remaining three years of our lease and show what the railroad was capable of doing in Ulster County. During those three years our revenue increased from $150,000 per year in 2013 to over $1 million in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and allowed Kingston businesses to lobby for our continued existence.

In April and May, we were able to run three CMRR-only trains to the Glenford Dike, and even a worktrain to Shokan to pick up our equipment. These runs proved that we could do what we said we could do, despite the huge drains on our resources from the litigation. If we had been able to spend the $700,000 on track and equipment, we would have been running passenger trains to the Glenford Dike in 2016.

As part of the agreement to end the litigation, the CMRR evacuated Cornell Street yard (including helping the ESRM move engine 23 to Phoenicia), and cleaned up all the used ties along the ROW from Kingston to Phoenicia. Our brush crews opened up vast stretches of rail from Phoenicia to Highmount, leaving most of that part of the line traversable by track cars for the first time in many years. It was a huge undertaking. But we left the ROW from Kingston to Phoenicia in better shape than it was at the beginning of our lease.

The good news for 2016 is that we were able to get a new permit to run from Kingston to Route 28a in Stony Hollow, though without access to our yard at Cornell Street. We regret the loss of the west end of the railroad as the County was able to convince Rail Explorers, who were being evicted in the Adirondacks, to replace us there. No other tourist railroad bid on the segments offered by the County.

In addition to the massive cleanup, we helped the ESRM build the track into their new storage building in Phoenicia. We also got flat car 273 into service on the west end, where it helped push our October leaf peeper crowds to all time highs (over 6,000). We also did more restoration work in Kingston, both on the coaches and by painting No. 400, the box cars and the side dump. We also got our yard in Phoenicia nearly completely reorganized and ready for yard tracks.

We also brought Viscose No. 6 to the CMRR in 2016 two times, once on each end of the railroad. Our Easter and Halloween trains brought record crowds as did our west end operations. Finally, Polar express ran without a flaw and brought over 24,000 riders to Kingston on 71 trains.

So at year end 2016, despite the loss of the west end of the railroad, we have a new contract to continue running on the east end for many years, something we thought would be impossible only a few months ago. We plan to work with the County for a master blueprint for the east end that includes a real yard, and hopefully an extension beyond Route 28a to MP 10 or the Glenford Dike. We are also generating enough revenue to accelerate our track repairs and buy better equipment.

In summary, it was the toughest year ever for the CMRR. However, we are now in a position to grow and expand service for the first time in many years without having to be wasting our resources on fighting our landlord or the trail community. As the year closes, we look forward to 2017 which we believe will be a good year for the CMRR.

Ernie Hunt
President
CMRR