It was very late last night when I posted the Briefs, but the lead story about the New Hope lawsuit kept me up a little later as I tried to go to sleep.

I know NIMBY complaints about tourist lines are nothing new. The Blue Mountaiun & Reading had some issues in Temple, PA and Steamtown had some problems when they were running on the D&H out of Hyde Park. Both were complaints about smoke, I believe.

But this suit is different. Not only does it go after what most of us would consider normal operations, it also attacks the visual impact of unrestored equipment and the operations of the shop.

Yes, there is a lot of surface anger when I read something like this. New Hope's development as a tourist draw is party because of the railroad. The evolution into a high-priced weekend escape and a retreat for artists and alternative lifestyle communities has turned it into a very unique town. For the most part, these new arrivals don't remember when New Hope needed the railroad to draw visitors.

Beneath the anger, I fear this is a clear warning shot that people do not always see things through the cinder-covered goggles that we do.

I'd be interested to hear what efforts your groups have made to build relationships with local burgs and their residents. It seems the only way to avoid these kinds of lawsuits is to build strong relationships that preclude them.

What do you think?

Rob Davis

rdavis@rypn.org

> I know NIMBY complaints about tourist lines
> are nothing new. The Blue Mountaiun &
> Reading had some issues in Temple, PA and
> Steamtown had some problems when they were
> running on the D&H out of Hyde Park.
> Both were complaints about smoke, I believe.

Don't foget Durango, which has installed scrubbers in the smokejacks in the new roundhouse in response to citizen complaints and activism...

eledbetter@rypn.org

As usual, the answer is personal responsibility. and due diligence.

If you don't want to hear steam whistles, don't move near a steam railroad. If you don't want to hear airplanes, don't move near an airport. If you don't like coal smoke, don't move to Durango.

MH&I and D&S predate the complainers - they aren't an unexpected surprise. They have been alive and vital parts of those communities before the complainers showed up to spoil everybody elses enjoyment.

I was interviewed by a reporter from Durango looking for some dirt many years ago - the agenda seemed to be trying to convince D&S to convert to oil firing. My response was to dare the reporter to print my advice to those who were whining to either learn to love coal smoke or move back to California where they came from. They never did............

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Completely ridiculous. I particularly like the part about diesels polluting the air. Ah, nearly every 18-wheeler out there runs on diesel fuel. As compared with a spark-ignition engine only soot output is greater. Hydrocarbon and CO emissions are almost an order of magnitude lower. NOx emissions are about the same. An decent attorney will crush this.

I've been to New Hope, and for me the major problem is TOO MUCH CAR TRAFFIC! I've seen idiots stop on the tracks while the train is moving, then panic when they see it coming at them. Traffic isn't a quality of life issue and a little smoke from the railroad is? Better to close some of the yuppie junque stores and move them to Lahaska and the outlet mall.

If the jusge has a clue, they should toss this case ASAP.

> It was very late last night when I posted
> the Briefs, but the lead story about the New
> Hope lawsuit kept me up a little later as I
> tried to go to sleep.

> I know NIMBY complaints about tourist lines
> are nothing new. The Blue Mountaiun &
> Reading had some issues in Temple, PA and
> Steamtown had some problems when they were
> running on the D&H out of Hyde Park.
> Both were complaints about smoke, I believe.

> But this suit is different. Not only does it
> go after what most of us would consider
> normal operations, it also attacks the
> visual impact of unrestored equipment and
> the operations of the shop.

> Yes, there is a lot of surface anger when I
> read something like this. New Hope's
> development as a tourist draw is party
> because of the railroad. The evolution into
> a high-priced weekend escape and a retreat
> for artists and alternative lifestyle
> communities has turned it into a very unique
> town. For the most part, these new arrivals
> don't remember when New Hope needed the
> railroad to draw visitors.

> Beneath the anger, I fear this is a clear
> warning shot that people do not always see
> things through the cinder-covered goggles
> that we do.

> I'd be interested to hear what efforts your
> groups have made to build relationships with
> local burgs and their residents. It seems
> the only way to avoid these kinds of
> lawsuits is to build strong relationships
> that preclude them.

> What do you think?

> Rob Davis


acp19809@yahoo.com

I believe the original NHIR bought the branch because New Hope was already a tourist area. The Reading Company ran the Crusader up to New Hope several times on charters.

The NHIR is a common carrier and part of the national RR system so I suspect the local Court will find they have no jurisdiction.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

The problem is the country is overrun with self centered, over incomed Yuppies who beleive that the universe revolves around their desire du jour. We had here a Farm Museum with one of the premier displays of agricultural history in North Texas. The land upon which it sits was donated to the county for that express purpose. The soccer moms and others have hijacked county government here and now the place is being turned into a HUGE soccer sports complex, the restored farm machery has been moved outside of its display building, replaced by field maintenence machinery.

Now they have decided that the vintage machinery is an eyesore, and they are trying to figure out what to do with it.

The late baby boomers and gen X yuppies are a scourge that are only concerned about themselves and their possessions. And if you think this is some angry old coot on a tirade, I am 34 and disgusted.

lorija799@aol.com

I recall that NH&I went through this before, when they reopened after a period of dormancy. I believe the federal jurisdiction part held at that time, a good reason to remain part of the national system if at all possible. I wonder if being a "real" RR (common carrier, under Railroad Retirement) makes a difference also? While many lines remain connected, many tourist lines do not come under the Railroad Retirement System.

ryarger@rypn.org

> The NHIR is a common carrier and part of the
> national RR system so I suspect the local
> Court will find they have no jurisdiction.

I'm guessing otherwise. Ask NS or CSX or UP if they get out of dealing with state and local government. New Hope doesn't automatically get a pass because there are still fishplates bolted on both sides of the dividing line at Buckingham.

Laws regulate activities, not specific companies. Gift shop sales and a round-trip ticket from New Hope to Lahaska aren't interstate commerce, and those activities can be regulated without affecting interstate commerce.

I'm willing to bet that NHIR buys a business license for its gift shop, remits sales tax on tickets, etc.

And local governments have the power to enact noise ordinances, regulate speed of trains, etc.

Zoning, Land Use, the borough's Comprehensive Development Plan - these are little-understood but very powerful ordinances that could have a huge impact on the New Hope.

It's really unfortunate the article had no comment from the railroad. I'd like to hear that side of it. Because with all due respect to Brother Templin and his somewhat intemperate remarks, this lawsuit wasn't filed by "yuppie scum" - it was filed by the borough government according to the article.

Governments don't file suit just because a coupla yuppies gripe. If ANY city government were a TENTH as responsive as that, I'd be shocked.

Sorry, JJ - this doesn't look like a Yuppie NIMBY situation to me. It looks like a liquid waste evacuation competition - a good old-fashioned p!$$!n' match.

The way the lawsuit is portrayed in the article, it looks like its true intent is to force the NHIR to negotiate. There's nothing about shutting down the railroad - just noise abatement and some rearranging of equipment to look nicer.

If the part of the story about the railroad's response to the borough's overtures are true, then a bit of unsolicited advice to the good people on the railroad: next time, at least pretend to be concerned, and make a few painless concessions. Play the frickin' game, for goodness' sake. That would have gotten the borough off your backs for a while, you'd have given up less than you probably will have to now, and the relationship could have remained cordial. What happens if one day you wake up and find out your property has a new Land Use Designation in the CDP, and has been rezoned? Your property taxes are about to go WAY up. You won the evacuation contest, but you lost the war.

When things get to this point, everybody loses but the lawyers.

That said, I heartily agree with those who have said, and I paraphrase, "You don't like the smell of 2" washed and screened nut from the Second Pigeon mine at Sydnor Addition, West Virginia, seasoned with a little valve oil and steam, and accompanied by the sweet sounds of a 9" Lunkenheimer? Then . . . DON'T BUY A LOT NEXT TO THE TRACKS, YOU MORON!"

JAC

> I recall that NH&I went through this
> before, when they reopened after a period of
> dormancy.

Not really dormancy, but soon after the then-much-improved New Hope & Ivyland RR reopened under new management in 1991, a few neighbors started going ballistic. For several years prior all of the steam locomotives were out of service and the then tourist service operator, the New Hope Steam ("make that Steam-Less") Railway, was running only a few trips each Sat and Sun with a relatively unobtrusive SW-1 diesel. Well here comes 2-8-0 40 running daily on the hour with lots of smoke and whistles...OH MY!! The NIMBY's were talking legal action back then as well, but I don't believe anything ever came about it. Same deal, being under federal jurisdication, I don't think they (then as today) could touch them directly on the issue.

Still, it helps for any operation to try and take steps to be a reasonably good neighbor to the folks living near by and its host town in general. It's nice to have the support of the surrounding community--you never know when you might need it!

Regards,
Jim Robinson

I had a customer who owns a business in New Hope today in my office complaining about the NH&I, so I will vent. I told him this as well.....

As a former NH&I employee and nearby resident, ever since the 1991 "reopening" this line has been bothered by its neighbors. The article also fails to mention that these same people tried this is 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and in 1999 and lost each time. The same people on this "lawsuit" are the same on the last few, and additionally the Bucks County Courier Times failed to mention that these people are also sueing a nearby restuarant for making the air smell like food. (no joke)
As a co-worker said to me when she read the article, "What idiots builds a $500,000.00 house near an almost 200 year old rail line?"

This once again shows that the problem with our country is to many dumb get rich quick lawsuits and the focus on destroying money making avenues for our ever dying (and lossing companies) state of Pennsylvania.

jeff@CompuComIS.net

> The article also
> fails to mention that these same people
> tried this is 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and in
> 1999 and lost each time. The same people on
> this "lawsuit" are the same on the
> last few, and additionally the Bucks County
> Courier Times failed to mention that these
> people are also sueing a nearby restuarant
> for making the air smell like food. (no
> joke)

So is the statement in the article that the BOROUGH filed the suit true, or false?

I just don't get it. What DO they want the air to smell like? ;-)

JAC

While it was not a common carrier, and as such did not have some of the protection the NH&I has,
The Kettle Moraine Railway faced the same problems, and as a result no longer exists.
The Kettle Moraine was around long before all the NIMBYs and their expensive new houses they built near it's line, but that didn't help with it's survival. Now we are seeing all of it's equipment, which many people from the area rode and enjoyed many times, being scattered about the country, Most of it for displays, never to turn a wheel again.
I hope the NH&I can work things out, so the same thing doesn't happen there.

Boyd

bowens@rypn.org

Jeff,

I can understand the anger. Draw a straight line from New Hope to my house near Sandy Hook and count the number of McMansions you pass. Crowding, over pricing and a host of other demons have changed eastern PA and central NJ. I am 35. I have seen the same thing.

Rather than get ticked off, I am trying to work it the other way. Not only should these folks be our friends, if we have any desire to draw from the local populace in the tri-state area, they need to be our customers.

With 16 gazillion people living within the NY-Philly corridor, there is only one steam operation that has managed to stay in continual steam business over the decades: Pine Creek in NJ. And if you know anything about the town they are in, it is apolitical as you can get.

For all the others, it seems that tapping into the populace hasn't been working. I will say that the "new" New Hope team is breaking the curse, as they have been steaming for over a decade. Otherwise, you have the Black River & Western, which at least has kept running over the decades, even without steam. But wither the Whippany Toonerville, Morris County Central (twice), Susquehanna, Trolley Valhalla and so forth and you get a picture that it is hard to turn the locals into riders.

Just west of the Delaware, though, you have stalwarts like Strasburg and Kempton.

It is an interesting challenge to embrace the population we live in, and get them interested in the trains.

Rob


trains@robertjohndavis.com

John,
maybe I am a little "intemporate", as it were, but it is a certain mindset of selfishness that is rampant in our country now. Living as I do in a rapidly growing area north of Dallas, I may be a little sensitive, so bear with me when I go on a tirade.

There is a 2500 acre landfill serving the DFW yuppie growth going in about 1.5 miles from my ancestral home,(its where I live) land that we have worked to hold onto for generations. As you might guess, I don't want it here, and I know that trash has to go some where. We faught everyway we could, and the dump is gonna happen. At the same time, another property that has been farmed for generations has had a developement come in next to it that is threatening legal action due to the dust produced from agricultural operations. I am tired of idiots that move to the country and then are surprised that those cute cows next door at the dairy produce large amounts of fragrant poop, and work to destroy others livlihood, same as a twit that doesn't notice that interesting assemblage of parallel iron on top of wood and rock that JUST MIGHT have a train run on it that back up to his lot.

My gripe is this idea that everything and every one that is not a part of this selfish class should give up something in order not to offend and make them comfortable in their unreal worlds.

My Christian compassion ends with these types, who falsely feel that the world exists for the sole purpose of making them happy.

You cannot work with them, and no matter what one does to try to comprimise in order to get along, they will use all political and litigious means to serve their selfish purpose. These people at New Hope pursued their own suits before forcing the local govt. to get into the act. You can't continue to exist an make them happy.

If they don't like rr yard, and agricultural activities, get an apartment and STAY IN TOWN.

lorija799@aol.com