"The previous meeting in February they were working on a resolution proposing Rail With Trail. This time they completely turned around and proposed that the CMRR could cross Rt 28A with enough track west for the train to clear the crossing and then start the trail from there. No extension, no Basin Road terminal and they tried to take it to a vote. The result of a handpicked committee being lead by an Ulster County Legislator who has been trying to kill the CMRR for almost two decades. Fortunately one committee member stopped the vote and called for more information. They will meet again on April 24th."

Just another reason I absolutely hate the greedy Rails-to-Trails people. They never met a rail RoW they didn't want to rip up, regardless of whether it was rail banked for future passenger use or not. This is going on in Ohio as well.

Yep, I just saw where the vote was passed to rip up the rails that the Zanesville & Western has been running on.

A lot of times it is property developers pushing bike trails on railroads, not because there is a need for bike trails, but because the sort of upscale people they want to sell housing to don't want even the hint of industrial activity where they live. So it is addition by subtraction for them.

KINGSTON — Last fall, the Catskill Mountain Railroad, a tourist attraction that brings passengers from Kingston into the foothills of the Catskill Mountains and back, issued a statement about winning three state grants.

The grants were from the Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program and totaled nearly $4.5 million. They were to build an engine house for the train near the rail line’s start at Kingston Plaza, to upgrade the engines to clean diesel, and to construct a terminal near the Ashokan Reservoir.

However, documents obtained by the Times Union show Ulster County needed to cosign parts of one of the grant applications for it to be valid. The county would not comply, but the Catskill Mountain Railroad applied for the cash anyway and was awarded $667,000 in state funds.

The money for the terminal was suspended before it was paid out after Ulster County notified the state about issues with the grant.

Additionally, Catskill Mountain Railroad has no claim on the land leading to the site of the proposed terminal. The company has a permit from Ulster County to operate on land from Kingston to within 1.8 miles of the terminal site and has a lease with a private property owner where the terminal would be built. But the company would need land rights to the 1.8-mile section to connect the two areas if it wants to extend its operation to the terminal.

This section — referred to as “the undesignated section” — is the subject of intense ongoing debate. An advisory committee of county legislators has been meeting since last year to decide what to do with it. Should it be a rail line, a hiking trail, or should it be widened to include both?

On April 8th the Woodstock Land Conservancy along with the Chairman of the Ulster County U&D Corridor Committee gave a presentation to the Hurley Town Board proposing Trail only to Basin Road. They also tried to get a resolution passed by the Board. The CMRR was in attendance and called foul on this backdoor plan and asked for equal time to make our own presentation. Tomorrow 4/22 at 6pm we will be at the Old Hurley Town Hall to present our plans with our new 3d rendering of the project. As always we can use your support. Hope to see you there. P.S. Next and probably last U&D Committee meeting 4/24 at 5pm.

CMRR Calls for U&D Corridor Committee to be Restructured and Reformed. The Catskill Mountain Railroad has written to Ulster County Legislative Chair asking that the U&D Corridor Committee, which is charged with deciding policy on a 1.8-mile segment of County railroad property, be restructured and reformed to more closely resemble the highly successful U&D Corridor Committee of 2015, and that Legislator Collins immediately step down as chair. This Thursday 5/8/25 at 2:00 the U&D Committee will meet to ram through a resolution supporting trail only. Please attend if you can. Meantime call Jen Metzger at 845-340-3800 and Peter Criswell at 845-481-3264 and let them know you want rail with trail.