I understand the county has in the past parked a dump truck across the rails to prevent the tourist railroad from repairing the line and is determined to have it scrapped. Doe anyone know the facts? Is this line salvageable?
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There is one other post about the Catskill Mountain Railroad from April 2013. Use the search tool to find it. it has the info you are looking for but being almost two years old I don't know that the information is still accurate.
Tommy:
I've been following this situation for awhile. There had been a push by the county to convert the right of way into a walking trail. Politically motivated, parking the dump truck on the track was part of that whole nonsense and happened sometime ago. Thankfully, the railroad had a banner year in 2014 with more than 40,000 passengers, many of whom apparently came out in support of the railroad in its dispute. Business owners in Kingston were apparently giddy over the extra business the railroad was bringing to their establishments and it now appears everyone will now be peacefully co-existing:
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/ge...ounty-exec-hein-says
Bob
Link to CMRR facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/CatskillMountainRailroad
Article in the Dailyfreeman, Ulster County NY
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/ge...n-railroads-eviction
I grew up in that area but no longer live locally
I know quite a bit about this. I am a member of the Carmel, New York chapter of Rotary International. My fellow Rotarian, Peter Fluchere is the treasurer of the Catskill Mountain Railroad and will be glad to tell you the railroad is in excellent shape but they have had to hire lawyers and fight the county.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad brings in almost a million dollars annually in taxable county funds with Thomas The Tank, Halloween, and Polar Express rides. The county, motivated by some unscrupulous individuals undoubtedly with something to gain, is trying to close the railroad and tear up the tracks. It is a story worth knowing. Please give your support to the Catskill Mountain Railroad. Go to the website and make a contribution.
Eliot Scrapiron Scher
What is going on there is incredibly bad, i fact, RAILPACE, had a piece on it and the county wants o "bleed" the RR financially by lawsuits against the RR. It smells bad. I think there are some personal grudge or something involved. From what I have read, it is a good railroad. Government in action. Just nose the engine pilot against the truck and gently push it off the track. I thought it was a federal offense to block a RR track ??
That's sad when this type of anti-railroad movement starts. One thread this summer had the local gov't in a bind because the little used walk-path was attracting miscreants and dumb people trespassing off of the right of way onto private property. The government was being sued to control it by fencing the ROW.
It's good to hear the rr is doing well and has some balance with the community now.
For those of us not familiar with the Catskill Mountain railroad, please let us no where we can board the train, its operating schedule and the fare.
Hi, Bobby.
Here's the link to to the railroad's website. It provides everything you need to know in terms of scheduling, where to go, etc.:
http://catskillmtrailroad.com/
I think I'm going to make a trip up there myself this operating season.
Bob
Bob,
Thanks for the link. I am looking forward to riding that railroad this year.
