Adirondack Park Agency oks scrapping RR line to Lake Placid

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2017 10:35 am

For reference, here's the court decision itself.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ogden_images/w ... tOrder.pdf

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2017 10:38 am

For cross-reference, another thread on this subject.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41192

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:58 am

Latest from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.co ... must-stay/

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 4:24 pm

Adirondack Daily Enterprise poll (Yeah, I know they are a waste, but some use them as a talking point):

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.co ... =hootsuite

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 4:27 pm

Commentary from North Country Public Radio:

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org ... dirondacks

Rob Gardner · **Joined:** Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:50 pm **Posts:** 463

You can cast your vote at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise if you agree or not with the judge's ruling. It is currently running 195 "For" vs. 160 "Against".

Rob Gardner

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 614

daylight4449 wrote:

Well I'd hate to douse a perfectly good celebration, but just because they can't remove the rails now doesn't mean that New York is going to let anyone, whether Adirondack Scenic or someone else, use them...

This!

According to the Federal Election Commission's Individual Search page, one Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates Director made $90,700 in political contributions between 3/24/2003 and 11/02/2016:

Attachment:

FEC-Ernest_Keet.jpg [ 338.14 KiB | Viewed 3555 times ]

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:39 pm

Rob Gardner wrote:

You can cast your vote at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise if you agree or not with the judge's ruling. It is currently running 195 "For" vs. 160 "Against".

Rob Gardner

They've passed us again, now 402 "yes, vs. 466 "no."

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.co ... =hootsuite

As I commented earlier, these aren't really worth much, but the trail crowd will use it as a talking point. Let's see if we can deny them that point.

jayrod · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:11 pm

Ya know.... You can vote as many times as you like if you keep refreshing the page. I wouldn't put it passed the trail folks to be doing that. Just sayin'.... So, click away.

[Edit] Refresh won't work. you'll have to flush the cookies and cache to enter another vote. For those not browser savvy, copy the web address, close and reopen your browser, paste in the address and then vote again. Tested and works. Have fun.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:30 pm

jayrod wrote:

Ya know.... You can vote as many times as you like if you keep refreshing the page. I wouldn't put it passed the trail folks to be doing that. Just sayin'.... So, click away.

[Edit] Refresh won't work. you'll have to flush the cookies and cache to enter another vote. For those not browser savvy, copy the web address, close and reopen your browser, paste in the address and then vote again. Tested and works. Have fun.

Got me one extra vote, but no more after that. Must be something in there that tracks the sources of the votes.

jayrod · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:16 pm

Find your browser settings and clear out your cookies. I have my browsers set to delete cookies every time I close (safer surfing).

[Edit, again] I got about 10 votes in using 5 different browsers. They may be looking at IP addresses - mine float in a range so that could explain it. I'll keep trying to vote, though.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

opinion won't do any thing, reversion title is the one issue and the Historical landmark is the other, the trail cannot be done. And the definition of Travel corridor, removing rails takes it out of the transportation definition. You cannot "transport" via a trail as you can by Rail.
You have a bunch of gunga wantas who wanta a traila. You wanta, you builda, cannota toucha raila. If you go thru and trail it, then suddenly you need the train for whatever emergency, duh, out of luck. There may not be freight trains, but there is still practical and needed use for the rail line. The train line is in the public service, ready for it.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:15 pm

A letter of opinion on the Adirondack; I'm not sure I would pick the equipment this fellow is suggesting (such conversions have a history of not holding up well over time), but other commentary may well be worth considering.

http://www.uticaod.com/opinion/20171003 ... -rail-line

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

how heavy are the snows up there? A light bus could get kicked off the track in the heavy snow. Track maintenance is a continuous thing, I am sure there is plenty of ties needing replacing. Get the trains rolling, get some happy riders, and all will be fine. If you want, get a flat car to hoist all them snow mobiles up there.

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 614

J3a-614 wrote:

http://www.uticaod.com/opinion/20171003/guest-view-many-possibilities-for-adk-rail-line

That letter is the pro-rail fantasy equivalent to the pro-trail "scrap will pay for the trail, so it'll be free" claim. An excerpt:

Quote:

One way to do this would be to employ the use of railbuses. These are simply regular buses - school buses are ideal - with gear referred to as HI-Rail fitted to the frame making them suitable for both highway and rail use.

Why these? Much lower expense per unit than regular locomotives or passenger cars and generally requiring only two crew members, conductor and driver.

Far lower cost to insure, operate and maintain.

Less cost to bring track up to specs to allow the passage of this much lighter equipment.

Simpler, safer, less complicated operation with projected 30 mph speeds approximating five hours to Lake Placid.

Hi-rail school buses do not meet FRA passenger standards. Game over.

It currently takes 3 hours and 5 minutes to drive from Utica Union Station to Lake Placid. One bus driver can easily make a round trip in a single day, using a standard bus. The author wants to use four crew members (2 engineers, 2 conductors) and two buses, both hi-rail equipped, to move the same amount of passengers at half the speed between Utica and Lake Placid. To cover all those extra costs, a ticket on the hi-rail bus would have to be priced 5 or 6 times higher than a ticket on a regular road bus.

If his buses are truly "suitable for both highway and rail use" then he would have to be filling them with road diesel -- so no fuel tax savings even when running on rail.

My understanding is that hi-rail equipped large vehicles are limited to 20 mph; it that's correct, his "projected 30 mph speeds" are not doable. I also understand that hi-rail vehicles can be awfully difficult to stop on wet rail. I don't know how being difficult to stop on wet rail results in a "far lower cost to insure".

Adirondack Park Agency oks scrapping RR line to Lake Placid

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