Sunday, January 12th

Ryan Lennox kicked off the new year with a brush crew that worked between MP 5.68 and MP 5.53, with all the brush now clear between 209 and Hurley Mountain road, and ready for trackwork. Ryan was joined by Christian Cole, Billy Stewart, Tyler Carelli, Jim Bruck, and new volunteer Alex Formanek. Photos from the day can be found here:

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Segawiz ... %201-12-14

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

The CMRR held its annual volunteer meeting on Saturday, January 18th. 44 volunteers attended:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=213504

EH

Good news for the CMRR!

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... ain-tracks

Shandaken Town Board narrowly OKs resolution calling for end to legal fight over train tracks

By Jay Braman Jr., news@freemanonline.com
Posted: 02/11/14, 10:25 AM EST

SHANDAKEN >> Admitting the matter has had a chilling effect on his relationship with Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, town Supervisor Rob Stanley got just enough votes Monday to pass a resolution that calls for an end to the legal battle between the county and the Catskill Mountain Railroad.

Voting 3-2, with Faye Storms and Tim Malloy opposed, the Shandaken Town Board approved a measure called “Resolution concerning development and use of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad right-of-way.” Voting yes were Stanley and Councilmen Alfie Higley and Vince Bernstein.

The resolution was reworded from an earlier version that called for the county to stop its legal efforts to evict the railroad from the tracks so that a recreational trail could be established. That version called for the railroad, which operates two scenic train rides on the tracks, to coexist with the trail.

The approved version asks that “all involved parties immediately cease their legal efforts and sincerely enter into discussions to work out a solution agreeable for all parties involved … and that Ulster County representatives work to ensure continuing operations of current tourism railroad activities, especially from Phoenicia to Boiceville....”

The railroad offers rides in the Phoenicia and Kingston areas. It has a lease to use the county-owned tracks through the end of 2016, but the county has taken legal action to evict the railroad, claiming the railroad hasn’t lived up to some terms of the lease.

Storms said she was uncomfortable supporting a measure that took sides in a litigation matter and that the Town Board needed more information on the matter before taking a position.

Malloy agreed. “I don’t even know why this resolution is in front of us,” he said.

Stanley, who championed the resolution, said it pertains only to what might happen in Shandaken, not in other communities through which the tracks pass.

He also said his effort to push through the resolution has strained his relationship with Hein but that he believes they will be able to work together in the future, as they have in the past.

Monday’s vote followed a 90-minute public comment period during which both rail and trail supporters spoke.

Those in support of the resolution complained the trail plan being advanced by the county was being forced on town residents and that the county’s plan, while allowing the railroad continue operating in the Phoenicia area, ultimately will kill the railroad because it does not allow for expansion.

Some speaking against the resolution noted the railroad has had 30 years to expand but has failed to do so.

Chichester resident Brian Powers disagreed with the resolution because he felt the town had no business taking a position.

“You’re adopting a private agenda as public policy,” he said.

The railroad says it has spent $65,000 so far on the legal fight, and the group’s treasurer last week estimated the county has spent more than $100,000, though that amount could not be confirmed.

You should see some of the comments that follow the article. The one below, by someone using the name "Another Take On It," is--interesting:



Whooee!! I would say this is someone who definitely doesn't like railroads!

Wait. I'm confused here. Is he against the railroad in the area of the reservoir but FOR the railroad being rebuilt WEST of Phoenicia? Has he been "on the ground" in this section?

The more this debate, as well as the one in the Adirondacks, perpetuate, the more I am solidified in my belief that social media and general over saturation of online communication have had WAY too much of a roll in these "movements". We should all take some lessons from these battles and try to stay ahead of the curve with what ever organizations we belong to. Indeed the Catskill Mountain has embraced this concept and the majority of the general public seem to now be on their side (it will still take an election to ultimately change the outcome) while the Adirondack Scenic/Adirondack Railway Preservation Society has seemingly "missed the boat" compared to their particular adversaries (ARTA idiots) on the interweb. Even too the organization that I head up (ALCO Historical & Technical Society) suffered much bad publicity due to a lack of "over saturation" of social media. Seems it's become a necessary evil that we all need to embrace, while somehow also maintaining the high road that we all try to walk so we don't get lumped in with the "trolls" and general bottom feeders. It doesn't give me much of a warm fuzzy for the future though.

Whoops. Nearly fell of the soapbox that time!

45 pro-rail people were at the meeting.

Only 10 pro-trail showed.

It's obvious the people of Ulster County want the CMRR to continue.

Ulster County has spent an estimated $100,000 fighting the CMRR in court. They are using a law firm *outside* of Ulster County.

http://www.woodstockx.com/2014/02/20/po ... he-rescue/

Polar Express to the rescue?
by HUGH REYNOLDS on Feb 20, 2014

rail trail HZTThe hugely popular Polar Express will come roaring down reconstructed tracks of the old Ulster and Delaware Railroad from Kingston to Route 209 for the month of December. Exactly who hosts that show may be determined by a state appeals court scheduled to hear a dispute between Ulster County and Catskill Mountain Railroad Corp. in August.

However, a new group of railroaders, younger, diverse and more market-savvy, have ambitions to expand their operation. Having last week inked a contract for the Polar Express, a Warner Bros. attraction based upon the movie in which a doubting boy who boards a magical train ride on Christmas Eve to the North Pole where he receives a special gift from Santa, CMRR plans to market the tourist rail ride for the holiday season.

Thomas the Tank Engine is not far behind, with plans to put the popular children’s attraction onto the tracks next year.

What was a small band of volunteer train buffs has apparently evolved within the past two years into an organization with 125 members, 80 of whom are active volunteers, according to the new Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) leaders. The volunteers come from various walks of life and locations, and many have an active interest in hiking. That group has reconstructed the short Kingston run and raised ridership revenues in the last year.

Matt Gillis, 42, a free-lance photographer who lives with his wife and two young sons in Kingston, is one of the volunteers the railroad has recruited in recent years. “We’re all bikers and hikers, but our older son is crazy about trains,” Gillis said. “To our family, the railroad is just an extension of what we all like to do.”

Being a railroad volunteer is not for coach potatoes. Reconstructing long-abandoned track can be grueling, back-breaking work. There are 2500 railroad ties per mile of track. CMRR seeks to replaces about 1000 of those per mile, purchased used for $10 each. Used ties have a useful life of ten to 15 years.

The county government, claiming CMRR had failed to meet the terms of its 25-year lease ending in May 2016, launched a lawsuit against the railroad last year in an attempt to void the lease. A supreme court judge ruled to allow the railroad’s lease to remain intact, a decision the county has appealed.

CMRR will reconstruct track

In the face of the county’s actions to oust the railroaders, the volunteers remain steadfast and optimistic that they can convince the powers that be that their plans to maintain a working train from Kingston, through Hurley, up to the Ashokan Reservoir, and, on the other side of the reservoir, from Boiceville to Phoenicia, remain viable and are compatible with the county plans to establish the right of way as a walking/hiking/biking trail.

“We’ve signed contracts with Polar Express and we’re moving forward,” said Ernest Hunt, CMRR president. “We have two years [left in our lease] to prove ourselves.”

Hunt said the railroad company plans to reconstruct track from its Kingston terminus just west of Route 209 (across from the state trooper station) to West Hurley. “It will cost us about $60,000,” he said, “which is just about what we’ve spent defending the lawsuit against the county. Our understanding is the county has spent at least $100,000 in taxpayers’ money in legal fees.”

According to Hunt, the reconstituted CMRR volunteers will do the work themselves of installing the 1000 used ties per mile on the six-mile stretch of track up to the Ashokan Reservoir. Assuming the work can be done seven months a year, that schedule requires purchase and installation of about 100 ties a week — an ambitious and perhaps quixotic goal for a volunteer organization working without assurance that the county won’t simply tear up all the track when the lease expires two years from now.

Under orders from Ulster County executive Mike Hein, county officials do not respond to inquiries for news stories from Ulster Publishing.

Hein supports a walking and biking trail along portions of the 38-mile railroad right-of-way from Kingston to Highmount, though allowing that the railroad should be maintained from Mount Tremper to Phoenicia. The Kingston end would be converted to a walking trail. Hein has also suggested the county might take over railroad operations should CMRR be evicted by the courts.

Late last year, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which manages reservoir property, offered the county a $2.5-million grant to create walking trails along an eight-mile stretch of abandoned track through the reservoir, but without rail traffic. The county has also received a two-million-dollar state grant for rail-trail development on the railbed.

What’s really possible

Railroad officials, in a recent departure, believe rail and trail can co-exist, given the width of railroad rights-of-away, and even complement each other. “We think of ourselves as moderates, reasonable people,” Hunt said last week. “We’d like to appeal to similar people on the trail side of the issue.”

County legislature chairman John Parete, an Olive resident, takes a similar view. “I’d like to see a committee formed from both parties to start a conversation about what’s really possible,” he said.

In the railroad’s grand scheme of things, Hunt sees his organization’s project rebuilding tracks to extend the run from Kingston Plaza west to reservoir-view walking trails beyond West Hurley, as creating a rail gateway to the Catskills. “We could bring the hikers or bikers up to the trails and bring them back,” he said. “The Kingston nexus, with its proximity to the Thruway, ample parking and uptown amenities, would be an ideal tourist destination.”

The new railroaders admit their grasp exceeds their reach. They secure most of their revenue on the Mt. Tremper-Phoenicia run during the short fall foliage season. The Kingston run makes most of its money during Christmas holidays.

Bottom line, the railroaders say, is that they need the business hikers could generate.

Rancor remains, legal issues notwithstanding.

Last week, the Shandaken town board, after much debate, voted 3-2 on a resolution, supported by the CMRR, which called on the county and the railroad to settle their differences.

Olive town supervsor Sylvia Rozzelle said there were no plans for her board to consider similar action. “Personally, I don’t think the railroad has done anything for this town after more than 20 years,” she said. “I think the trail people have some great ideas which could have a real impact on economic development in our town.”

A letter in the Daily Freeman that touts how the Great Allegheny Passage trail is a benefit to the towns it passes through. Missing is any mention of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, any mention of how well it works with the trail, any mention of the fight the trail people started trying to close it even though it was on a double track line, and any mention that some trail people still want it to go away.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/opinion/201 ... er-economy

Also of note is that the editor, at least claiming to be tired of too much moderation time spent on the subject, allows no follow up comments.

Just stumbled onto this (and will be placing it on the Adirondack page, too); wish the New York trail people understood this as well as this Virginian lady:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-eLneUU-uc

Is there any recent progress on the CMRR itself?

^It's been a cold snowy winter in CMRR country so it's been quiet.

Once the snow melts and it warms up, work will begin!

And news on the ex LS&I 2-8-0?

Keeping an eye on things--another pro-trail letter in the Daily Freeman. This, along with two other letters like this in a week, plus a reprint of the wire story on the length of the trail study in the Adirondacks, is a point of concern for rail supporters, due to the censure of all responding comments on the electronic version of the Daily Freeman. The editor says he's tired of name calling while monitoring what amounts to a discussion forum, and he certainly has a case, but it is still bothersome to rail supporters that they do not have the response tool they once had (or maybe we got spoiled!):

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... -in-coming

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/opinion/201 ... -disbelief

We should not be having to fight things like this.

Here's the problem, but I get the impression that both the Daily Freeman and Adirondack Daily Enterprise are slanted towards the trail folks. I had an op-ed turned down by ADE some time ago, and was told that it wasn't suitable for publication. Tell me, but how is the attached file unsuitable? As far as I'm concerned, someone needs to play the game the pro-trail group is playing... But it also comes down to sheer volume of pro-trail verses pro-rail commentary; the ratio is so out of whack, and the editors don't care to moderate some of this commentary with similar pro-rail arguments. This makes me believe that some of these papers would rather engage in full-out yellow journalism than try and get both sides of a story.

Your piece is too long for an OpEd page, poorly written and does not seem to be about something the Adirondack Daily Enterprise has actually covered in print.

(And you posted it in a thread about a different railroad entirely!)