dinwitty,

I was specifically referencing any potential freight customers for the CMRR. Those customers would require development of facilities on or adjacent to the tracks. Those facilities, be it a factory or warehouse would need to be large to require freight service. That would entail stormwater runoff, septic system or sewerage treatment and a host of other utilities and strains on the environment associated with developing that facility.

You can see with the difficulty the railroad has had and continues to have with moving a few cars onto property they own. From both the government and locals. A number of miles away in Maybrook along an active freight line land is flat and plentiful with much less government hassle. And even that area struggles to get customers.

The residents of Ulster County are a friendly bunch, aren't they?

https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2017/03/16/ ... ike-tours/

Olive residents upset about use of tracks for rail bike tours
by Violet Snow/March 16, 2017/3 comments

Residents of the Town of Olive are up in arms about Rail Explorers, the company whose contract with Ulster County will allow them to run tours of rail bikes down the Ulster & Delaware tracks alongside 39 homes on Cold Brook Road, near Boiceville, beginning in August or September. Cold Brook Road residents say their research shows Rail Explorers came into conflict with homeowners over their past two years of operation in the Adirondacks due to the noise of the bikes and issues with the large quantity of tourists passing by their properties. Rail Explorers moved out of the Adirondacks at the end of last year’s season.

On March 8, a meeting at the Olive Library quickly grew tense as Olive residents presented their concerns to Chris White, Deputy Director of the Ulster County Planning Department, and Rail Explorers CEO Mary Joy Lu and Managing Director Alex Catchpoole. Lu and Catchpoole defended their operation as positive and uplifting for riders, while White insisted the bikes would be more environmentally friendly and economically beneficial than the excursion trains of Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR), which Rail Explorers is displacing between Phoenicia and Boiceville...

They are like BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Nor Anytime).

They resist all change.

Doug vV

Typical NIMBYs, probably would have had the same article about the bikers and walkers going down the trail in their back yard also...

Rich C.

So let me get this straight - supervised riders, who ride in groups and don't get off their railbikes until the very end of the trip are not a threat - but you want to put a trail in and have unsupervised hikers and bikers go by, and you're fine with that? Of course all hikers and bikers are nice people, nobody would ever use a trail for nefarious purposes...but heaven forbid, those railbikers!!

Reading between the lines, there is clattering or other noise from the railbikes that is the source of the problem. Presumably walking or rubber-tired biking would be quieter.

Of course I don't put it past the "pro-trail" people to open up the stops for getting rid of the rails whether or not there's acceptable use for them...

I saw the bikes on the Adirondack RR. They don't make any noise. The only mechanical noise made was from the air compressor used on a small lift to raise the cars up for turning.

And the only noise from the riders is the talking between them and generally having fun.

The neighbors obviously would prefer vacant property next to them with no use

(Insert audible sigh here) It's really simple. If you don't like noise from a railroad, don't buy a house next to it. You took the gamble and lost. If you think rail bikes are loud (insert chuckle here), wait for the snowmobilers at 3:00AM after the bars let out. I can personally testify to what an absolute joy that is (sarcasm).