Found this on the RRs of York discussion group, anyone know more about this?

Judge orders stop to bulldozing at Beaver Dam Run James Riffin says he wants to build railroad from Hunt Valley to Pa. Riffin's been working on a railroad; county says permits needed


09/08/04
BY VIRGINIA TERHUNE
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Baltimore County and Maryland environmental officials went to circuit Court Aug. 30 to get a temporary restraining order against a man who says he wants to build a railroad from Hunt Valley to Pennsylvania.

County Circuit Court Judge Dana Levitz issued the order against James Riffin, who had been bulldozing dirt in a flood plain next to Beaver Dam Run in Cockeysville, county officials said.

The order remains in effect until Sept. 9, the date of a Circuit Court hearing on whether to grant a preliminary injunction to preven further work at the site, said Robert Loskot, an attorney for the county.

The county's Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management joined the state Department of the Environment, which has also cited Riffin for work along the stream, in requesting the temporary order, Loskot said.

Neither Riffin, who owns commercial property in Timonium and Cockeysville, according to court records, nor enforcement officials with the state department could be reached for comment.

The site in question, off York Road south of Ashland Road, is occupied by a building formerly used to store barrels of whiskey.

South of the building, a stream flows toward Loch Raven Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to much of the region.

Permits and siltation controls are required at construction sites near streams because mud contributes to filling up the reservoir and affects the habitat for trout, Loskot said.

Court records indicate Riffin wants to run dinner excursion trains from Hunt Valley to Pennsylvania and haul freight, with stops near Back River on the county's east side.

His proposed rail line would connect existing tracks in Hunt Valley to tracks in Pennsylvania via the North Central Railroad right-of-way, now used as a hiking and biking trail.

The county environmental protection agency cited Riffin in the spring for failing to file plans for grading and sediment control at the site. So far, he has not been required to pay a fine, Loskot said.

Riffin has claimed he is exempt from county regulations because he is asking for federal approval of the railroad, according to filings.

"This individual has a history of ignoring standard regulatory practices accepted by most other people in the county," said David Carroll, director of the county environment department.

"This is a blatant and wholesale ignoring of not only the county but also the state regulations," Carroll said.

Riffin ran afoul of the county several years ago in a case involving grading and dumping of dirt in a flood plain off Scott Adam Road in Cockeysville, Loskot said.

On Aug. 31, the County Council rejected Riffin's request to rezone 2 acres to allow construction of a section of rail line through Cockeysville. The request was considered as part of the county's quadrennial Comprehensive Zoning Map Process.



From the Towson Times:

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.c ... =1840&on=0

I live in this area and thought the grading being done near the old distillery was, perhaps, related to a possible reuse of the building.

The most recent alignment of the ROW was on the other side of the stream and crossed York Road (MD route 45) on an overpass. (The rails now end about a block farther south (or was that timetable east?), near the old Cockeysville freight station.) These existing rails connect with the Maryland MTA Central Light Rail line.

A major road improvement project a few years ago removed the two-lane underpass on York Road and replaced it with a four-lane highway, without a rail crossing. The "Northern Central Railway" trail begins just a bit beyond this location. -- Ray

For anybody who actually wants to follow this the latest round of STB filings are below. There has been no decision from the board as of yet.

What Mr. Riffin is doing is claiming in the Maryland courts that the exemption allowing him to operate common carrier rail service in interstate commerce along the Northern Central Trail in York County, Pennsylvania exempts his Maryland Properties from any form of state environmental regulation. Maryland has moved to revoke the exemption. Riffin has filed for another exemption to build a railroad yard on the Maryland property.

According to the various filings and news reports Mr. Riffin does have rail equipment in Pennsylvania.

I have two questions for this board:
1. Has anybody actually seen his rail equipment?
2. Is there anybody in the Baltimore area who has seen the rail yard he claims to be building?

If yes could we have a report.

GME

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 212028.pdf
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 211988.pdf
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 211987.pdf
http://www.stb.dot.gov/FILINGS/all.nsf/ ... 211857.pdf

GME,
I live in the area.
(1) No, haven't seen his equipment here locally. Perhaps it is in storage at one of the rail yards in Baltimore.

(2) There has been grading performed on the south side of the old distillery building in Cockeysville (see my earlier note in this thread).

I did see an earlier STB filing regarding this project and I'm still scratching my head over it. -- Ray

I've spent over ten years in Baltimore railfan and railroad circles, and the only party I have found who knows anything of this Riffin "character" called him a "crackpot troublemaker" to be avoided at all costs. All others I have spoken with about the STB filing did exactly the same thing as the rest here have done--scratched their heads, and then scratched them some more. It would be one thing if some major industry were applying to get freight service north of the current end-of-track around the huge quarry up there; it would be yet another if this were, say, the Mount Union Connecting Railroad up on the EBT territory, which among other things protected parts of the unused EBT from encroachment by highway improvements. But this proposal has the substance of a marshmallow.

It appears obvious from the press reports and chronology of events that Riffin is only trying to use the STB filing as an excuse to do an end run around environmental and other zoning/permit laws, in the belief that filing as a "railroad" gives him a loophole big enough to run his bulldozer through. My money is on Riffin eventually ending up behind bars for one infraction or another.

Mr. Mitchel, I would not bet against you. An acquaintance of mine at the Board has referred to him in camera as "that damned nut". I was curious if there was any observed substance to his claims. If I ever write my "Crackpots, Frauds, and Charlatans" book he may well have a chapter.

I am not taking the project seriously. Unfortunately it is necessary to take Mr. Riffin and the filings seriously. Cases like this do take up a certain amount of board time not to mention the expense to the State of Maryland. I am quite certain that the amount of money which has been spent by the State on outside counsel alone would be welcome at the either of the area museums which have had catastrophic events in the last few years. My fear is that, in addition to one more of a long string of abuses of the regulatory system to evade environmental laws, the gentleman’s legacy will be that when another start-up, or historical group, or industrialist comes forward for the Stewartstown, or anything else in the area, he will be viewed in the light of this episode.

GME
(George M. Edwards, Esq.)