PHOENICIA, N.Y. >> Despite lacking permission from the town of Shandaken, the Catskill Mountain Railroad has moved some train cars onto land the railroad owns in the hamlet of Phoenicia.

The move apparently was done under the cover of darkness late Sunday.

Faced with a Jan. 29 deadline to remove its equipment from tracks in Shandaken that are owned by Ulster County, the railroad — which until last fall offered scenic train rides between Mount Tremper and Phoenicia — sought the town’s permission to use for storage its own 2.5-acre parcel in Phoenicia that borders the county right-of-way.

It became clear at the town Planning Board’s Jan. 11 meeting, though, that permission would not be granted before the deadline.

In the meantime, railroad volunteers were clearing the Phoenicia site, cutting trees, leveling the ground and putting down a type of crushed stone used for parking lots and driveways.

Doing so did not violate any town regulations, said Shandaken Code Enforcement Officer Warren Tutt, but it worried people who lived near the site.

Then last week, neighbors noticed volunteers placing railroad tracks on the property, though only lying on top of the ground and not permanently installed. When asked about the tracks on Friday, volunteers said they were part of the cleanup effort.

But on Sunday, railroad volunteers installed connector lines that linked their newly laid tracks to the county’s line. And as darkness fell, they drove their trains off the county line and onto the tracks on their own property, then they disengaged the connector lines and put the county’s track back the way it was.

At a special meeting of the Shandaken Town Board Monday afternoon, Supervisor Rob Stanley said that the town’s zoning code does not address trains, so it appeared no rules were violated.

“That’s the quandary,” he said. “What’s the violation?”

The board then went into a closed-door session to discuss possible litigation in the matter. But afterward, Stanley said all the town plans to do at this point is ask the railroad to provide, in writing, “a strict timeline for removal of the cars.”

“We are not taking legal action at this time,” he said.

They don't want any permanent reminders of a successful tourist train operation.

Just forget the *25 years* of tourism dollars the CMRR brought to Phoenicia.

This is not a Republican/Democrat problem!

Michael Hein is a Republican. Terry Beranrdo is a Republican.

On the "freight could have been brought back to the line" comment. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the way of industry along that line outside of Kingston proper. Had there been any chance it would have occurred in the last 35+ years. New York City and the state have continually discouraged any large scale development along the line as most of it is in an area it is the aquifer for NYC. Less developed property = less water treatment.

Additionally there just isn't that much traffic on the roadways in the area. So IMHO there is no need at this time to take trucks off the roadway.