I notice that our discussion thread on Jim Thorpe has been removed by the moderator(s). I must say I think that removing this thread is a disservice to everyone who uses this site as the discussion raised a number of important issues that have implications for many situations beyond just Jim Thorpe.
If we're so thin skinned that we can't stand any passion in our discussions, then it seems to me that this site is headed for irrelevance and quickly!
As of today- with 21 days till the scheduled start date for the scrapping operation there is no new developments nor offers, nor any meetings scheduled.
I hope someone in the area will take some pictures before 11/22 so we can have a record of what the area looked like prior to the table/track being removed?
Ross Rowland

I sincerely hope that this thread was mistakenly removed by a moderator, especially since not one of the posts violated the forum's guidelines. Moreover, there have been far more passionate discussions in the recent past that have been allowed to continue.

A full explanation is expected.

Gentlemen, rest easy--not all is as it may have seemed. The moderators have done nothing to the thread. It dropped out of view because it the original post was made more than 7 days ago; to conserve bandwidth, the forum is set by default to show only topics from the prior 7 days.

You can use the drop-down menu just above the topics list on the Interchange home page to set your view to 2 weeks, a month, or some higher value. Reset that drop-down, and the topic will appear in your topics list.

I cannot change the default setting for this property from work, but I will try to increase it this evening, at least temporarily, to take account of the popularity of this topic.

This is good news! I hope that the programming can be corrected so that posts that have not been touched within the past two weeks are dropped - not those that have been recently used. In the past I have resurrected 'cold' threads to post updates instead of starting a completely new thread.

Our database guru David Collison has managed to reset the "show topics from" property to 1 month as of now; so, everyone should now see the Jim Thorpe topic without having to alter any settings. Three cheers for David!

At some point, we will probably reduce the default setting again--the need to use bandwidth judiciously still applies.

Getting back to Mr. Rowland's topic, with all the chatter and letter writing from many of us here, we are left without a resolution on what to do with the Jim Thorpe situation. Even the agencies involved offer no hope of a resolution. If this were a typical restoration project, the answer would be simple... just send money. This particular issue seems to involve several strong-willed parties who refuse to talk with one another, if I'm reading it right.
Is there a way out of this, or has that time passed us by several years ago? A big part of the Jim Thorpe area is the collection of railroad buildings and structures, not just the station and a train. Regardless of how well any future operator does in this location, allowing these pieces to be lost is just shameful.

I feel like additional conversation on this topic is like beating the dead horse. While the Interchange here at RYPN has been a great place for news, ideas, and debate there is not much more to talk about in my opinion. The one thing I can add is that the folks at the R&LHS, both the local and national level, have an ideal place right here to "clear the air", "explain a complicated situation", or "gather support" and they have failed to step up to the plate.

There are many well known, dedicated, and knowledgable people who frequent RYPN who are associated with many leading organizations. These people have all stepped up at one time or another to provide information, clear the air, make announcements, or explain something clearly. I applaud these people and the willingness they have demonstrated to step up and share thoughts and information.

The R&LHS says "The role of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society has since 1921 been and will continue to be, to preserve, promulgate and interpret the accomplishments of the railroad form of transportation down through history." Sadly, actions speak volumes of another story. Both the national and local R&LHS have let us down on this one. I know these guys don't all live under a rock somewhere so why do they not step up?

Tom Gears

The funny thing here is the concept of the "DEADLINE" approaching. There does not seem to be a need for such a date, no one is building an 8 lane highway across the site, there have been no floods or earthquakes, and the continued existence of the infrastructure does not seem to threaten anyone.

Is this just another case of someone drawing a line in the sand and then having too much pride to back off and be reasonable? Seems to me the best thing would be to let the deadline pass with no action by any of the involved parties and then sit down and come to some negotiated solution; without the pressure of the clock ticking and the calendar advancing.

Bob Kutella