Our first event for 2007 was the Catskill Mountain Railroad’s Volunteer Meeting in Phoenicia, hosted by CMRR Chairman Harry Jameson. Of the CMRR’s 79 volunteers, over 40 came to the meeting. We ran though our accomplishments for 2006, which included the following:

Doubling the volunteer base from 40 to 79 members

Increasing gross revenue for the tourist train by 40%

Clearing 16.85 miles of the mainline track from Phoenicia to Kingston, opening the line for the first time in many years.

Clearing 2.5 miles of track on the “west end” from Giggle Hollow to the D&U interchange in Highmount.

Repairing a major washout at MP 23.3 in the operating section.

Rehabilitating the track for full-sized trains east from MP 22.7 to MP 22.4, and west from MP 3.2 to MP 3.43.

Moving 6 cars off the washed-out track west of 209 near Kingston.

Putting more than 3000 volunteer hours into track clearing, maintenance and rehabilitation in 2006.

Harry Jameson also showed us a 30 year old video showing the last train on the line in 1976, and an interview with a very young, future President of the CMRR, Earl Pardini, on plans to save the railroad.


Plans for 2007:

We also discussed our plans for 2007. These include:

Repairing the mainline in Kingston to Washington Avenue, MP 4.37, and to Cold Brook Station, MP 22.1, in Cold Brook.

Starting a tourist train operation in Kingston, repainting the 401,and renovating two flats and a caboose for this new service.

Exploring freight operations in Kingston.

Fully repairing and servicing all maintenance equipment.

Widening our brush clearing in Kingston to a 20 foot swath from MP 3 to MP 6, spraying this section of the line and the operating section from MP 21.3 to Phoenicia, and regularly mowing the rest of the line.

Clearing more of the line between Phoenicia and Highmount.

Expanding the Cornell Street yard in Kingston and bringing 2 coaches in from mainline storage to begin restoration for Kingston tourist train operations.

Moving all other equipment off the mainline to allow maintenance equipment to be moved freely from Kingston to Phoenicia.

Repairing the washouts west of 209, the broken rail at MP 6.5, and the Stony Hollow drainage problem.

Assessing the costs of repairing the Butternut Cove washout and the Boiceville Bridge.

Expanding our volunteer base further.

After the meeting wrapped up, we went to the Mount Pleasant station, and had an official Volunteer Photo taken for 2007 – despite the 19 degree temperature and 30 mph winds!



See you in 2007!


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad