Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance

SARANAC LAKE - In what may be a first for the contested Adirondack railroad corridor, a municipal board has announced support for keeping the tracks - and it's a municipality that two years ago voted the opposite way.

In September 2013, the Harrietstown Town Council voted in favor or replacing the rails with a multi-use trail, but at the Dec. 17 meeting, the board voted in favor of keeping the rails in place. Council members cited the success of a new company that lets people pay to pedal four-wheeled rail bikes on 6 miles of track in the town between Saranac Lake and Lake Clear.

In related news, two environmental groups released their own official comments to the APA regarding the proposed plan, and the two groups are at odds.

The Adirondack Council came out in favor of the proposed plan, with Executive Director Willie Janeway saying in an open letter that "it's a good compromise, protecting natural resources and is responsive to the economic, cultural, and recreational needs," of the area....... Another group, Adirondack Wild, released a six-page comment laying out their rationale against the plan. Based on legal reasoning, Adirondack Wild outlined six issues that it is contending.

I'm sure that some of these folks are the kind that would suggest that you could run such a narow-gauge railway by just putting solar panels atop the loco/cars......

I am asking myself if they are operating the train, or having these people operated riders. Your going to run into safety issues, persons operating the riders must have to understand safety rules or they don't operate. To me there are too many variables with this and they should not do this, leave the railroad operating to the qualified individuals.

Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M

What this world needs are more "narrow minds"! :)

Hot Metal wrote:

Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M

What this world needs are more "narrow minds"! :)

pic of this? no time for video

Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M

Except, if you ever want to run actual trains again, these types of operations won't be any easier to evict than a trail.

Author:	Chris Webster [ Sun Dec 27, 2015 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
An article by Lake Placid News reporter Justin A. Levine: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance (December 24, 2015) Here's a short excerpt -- please click the link ad read the full article before commenting: Quote: SARANAC LAKE - In what may be a first for the contested Adirondack railroad corridor, a municipal board has announced support for keeping the tracks - and it's a municipality that two years ago voted the opposite way. In September 2013, the Harrietstown Town Council voted in favor or replacing the rails with a multi-use trail, but at the Dec. 17 meeting, the board voted in favor of keeping the rails in place. Council members cited the success of a new company that lets people pay to pedal four-wheeled rail bikes on 6 miles of track in the town between Saranac Lake and Lake Clear. and another short excerpt: Quote: In related news, two environmental groups released their own official comments to the APA regarding the proposed plan, and the two groups are at odds. The Adirondack Council came out in favor of the proposed plan, with Executive Director Willie Janeway saying in an open letter that "it's a good compromise, protecting natural resources and is responsive to the economic, cultural, and recreational needs," of the area....... Another group, Adirondack Wild, released a six-page comment laying out their rationale against the plan. Based on legal reasoning, Adirondack Wild outlined six issues that it is contending.

Author:	Chris Webster [ Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:42 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Here's a Christmas Day article in the ad-infested Utica Observer Dispatch newspaper: Rail vs. trail affects snowmobilers - If it shapes up to be the mild winter that meteorologists are predicting, the local snowmobiling community could have the most at stake. The most interesting part was a comment Larry Roth posted under the article, linking to this Youtube video of Christmas Day waterskiing on Long Lake in the Adirondack mountains: Youtube: 2015 Waterskiing on Christmas in Long Lake NY Adirondacks ADKS

Author:	David Dewey [ Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
I find it somewhat amusing that one idea is to put in a Narrow Gauge Electric railroad, so as to provide more room for the trail. OK, and what is going to be the reaction to stringing overhead wire for the electric railroad? Somehow I don't think that will fly with the esthetic wild-land groups! Once can be certain that the discussion of what to do will last for much longer!

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Sun Dec 27, 2015 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
I'm sure that some of these folks are the kind that would suggest that you could run such a narow-gauge railway by just putting solar panels atop the loco/cars......

Author:	J3a-614 [ Sun Dec 27, 2015 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote: I'm sure that some of these folks are the kind that would suggest that you could run such a narow-gauge railway by just putting solar panels atop the loco/cars...... Actually, it's already been done: http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/ro ... rvice.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__bikqRuzN4 Some other videos of this operation suggest the railroad is a heritage road with steam power. There doesn't seem to have been too much in more recent material on this, so I wonder how well the experiment actually worked out. If it was successful, it actually could have potential on some other inactive or semi-active lines; look what the rail cycles did for the Adirondack Scenic!

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Author:	dinwitty [ Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
I am asking myself if they are operating the train, or having these people operated riders. Your going to run into safety issues, persons operating the riders must have to understand safety rules or they don't operate. To me there are too many variables with this and they should not do this, leave the railroad operating to the qualified individuals.

Author:	J3a-614 [ Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
dinwitty wrote: I am asking myself if they are operating the train, or having these people operated riders. Your going to run into safety issues, persons operating the riders must have to understand safety rules or they don't operate. To me there are too many variables with this and they should not do this, leave the railroad operating to the qualified individuals. I assume you are talking about the rail cycles. These are being operated by the rail cycle company, on track that is not in use for regular rail operations, and if it were, would require a track warrant to keep regular trains away while the rail cycles are running. The rail cycle people do go through a safety briefing with their passengers before departure. http://www.railexplorers.net/tours.html

Author:	Rick Rowlands [ Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
I suggest that the Adirondack does what the Billerica and Bedford did! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReRw-omWf1Y Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M What this world needs are more "narrow minds"! :)

Author:	dinwitty [ Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:01 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Hot Metal wrote: Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M What this world needs are more "narrow minds"! :) pic of this? no time for video

Author:	J3a-614 [ Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:30 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
dinwitty wrote: Hot Metal wrote: Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M What this world needs are more "narrow minds"! :) pic of this? no time for video http://s230.photobucket.com/user/chuchu ... ort=3&o=33 http://s230.photobucket.com/user/chuchu ... ort=3&o=43 http://s230.photobucket.com/user/chuchu ... ort=3&o=37 http://s230.photobucket.com/user/chuchu ... t=3&page=1 http://s230.photobucket.com/user/chuchu ... t=3&page=2

Author:	robertmacdowell [ Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:15 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Hot Metal wrote: Prototype freight motor for the new Adirondack narrow gauge operation being tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyBHAhc92M They'll get smoother starts if they add chopper controls... https://youtu.be/CslRMmU01vk?t=1m28s

Author:	o anderson [ Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:58 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
As I see it, mixing narrow gauge and trolleys, you get the best of both worlds! The Seaton Tramway in the UK is perhaps the most famous and successful public narrow gauge tourist tramway (discounting things like the cable cars in San Francisco). http://www.tram.co.uk/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Seaton_Tramway There are many existing and historic backyard tram lines and electric industrial and mining equipment, in various gauges, linked and discussed at the NG-Traction group- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NG-Traction

Author:	Randy Gustafson [ Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
The real question here - and what needs to be considered - is what the Rail Explorers did in one season to reverse a local public attitude on their presence and value to the community that apparently the railroad didn't do, or at least not right there. I suspect they are far more sophisticated in their ability to track users/passengers, and survey their spending and impacts, and make a community case for their existence, than most would expect from a startup. If you look at the videos out there on how they did it, this is an entirely different animal from anything that has preceded it. There are two big fuzzy gray areas of regulatory and insurance that they've somehow met, despite some naysayers. What really got my attention in a hurry was that they got permission to go into the 2016 season. I'm not sure at all how this interfaces with conventional excursion operations. I do know I've looked at a lot of places with relatively low potential ridership, remote locations, and very poor track on publicly owned corridors where for one reason or another, they want to keep the rails in for future use. So, if this actually preserves rails and produces an income stream sufficient to make a workable business model, it certainly gets my attention.

Author:	Dennis Storzek [ Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Except, if you ever want to run actual trains again, these types of operations won't be any easier to evict than a trail.

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Author:	J3a-614 [ Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:52 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Adirondack RR: Harrietstown reverses rail-trail stance
Dennis Storzek wrote: Except, if you ever want to run actual trains again, these types of operations won't be any easier to evict than a trail. Unless you got as busy as the Strasburg, why would an "eviction" be necessary? One of the things brought up was that these rail cycles could share a railroad with a track warrant, same as a motorcar or hirail movement. The main thing would be that the "window" would be long enough for the relatively slow rail cycles to be clear in time for a regular train.