Before it became the Clinchfield's star. Anyone know how the group trying to keep this moribund line intact is doing against those who want to tear it up?

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?october02/10-31-02/blkmtn1.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

> Anyone know how the group trying to keep
> this moribund line intact is doing against
> those who want to tear it up?

The case is currently in local court with NIMBY's and a developer seeking to prove the railroad was "abandoned" and therefore the ROW should revert to the property owners.

The "Toe River RR" group which has carved the Black Mtn RR back out of the forest from Micaville to the Clinchfield interchange at Kona contend that they have a legal lease from an owner who has paid property taxes on the ROW for the past decade, that the RR was technically never abandoned (which is a fact recognized by the FRA and STB), and that the ROW is owned fee-simple and is in fact NOT an easement that can revert to neighboring property owners.

While seemingly cut and dry on paper, the entire affair is being handled in a county where the developer is related in either family or business to the opponents of the railroad, and the judge has refused to recuse himself from the case. The opponents of the line also include a sabateur who has taken shots at the operators and equipment with a high-powered rifle, has bulldozed about 2000 feet of the line into the Toe River, and worst of all, set fire to one of the two large trestles which cross the Toe, causing one end of the bridge to collapse.

Needless to say, since the entire affair is in civil court, the RR folks have been advised to keep quiet about the entire affair. Suffice it to say, it is in the interest of the railroad to move the case to a Federal court; however, the developer is well-financed and has a substantial warchest with which to wage his fight.

Matt Bumgarner
www.tarheelpress.com

stealthnfo@aol.com