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County pushes removal of tourist train operator
I hate to say it, but CMRR should take the hint, they’re not wanted or welcome anymore. Time to pull up stakes and find a new home. It’s not right, but right or wrong doesn’t matter sometimes.
Boy, those turds in Ulster must really want that yuppie bike trail.
It is the local government here that is the villain. The local officials stand to profit by doing this. The hard work of the railroads volunteers and the great economic benefit a fine tourist draw the railroad would bring to an area that needs all the help it can get would be lost it the local officials have their self serving way.
They want to turn it into a " BEANHEAD TRAIL " . the railroad doesn’t fit into a cosmopolitan life !
George, they don’t listen to the people that live there.
A badly disguised effort by the County to eliminate any potential railroad operations so that the track can be removed and the ROW converted into a hiking trail. Once it’s gone…it’s GONE!
The Nimby’s want to ride their snowmobiles and ATV’s on the trail instead.
Will the political leaders listen to someone that doesn’t live there?
I don’t know of ANY railroad that would ALLOW the public to walk, ski or fish on its Right-of-Way. Surely the City of Kingston would not expect CSX to allow such activities ON IT’S Right-of-way. My “understanding” is that this is all about the city wanted that land for a “Trail,” which for some reason they would rather have than an OPERATING railroad which has been rehabilitated largely through a massive VOLUNTEER EFFORT.
This is New York State. The politicians only listen to those that line their pockets with money. This tourist operation is toast.
Obvious land grab for a profit to someone in the shadows.
As Dennis Lynn said, they don’t listen to the people that DO live there, and Robert McGuire is dead on. The only way to get attention in NY is to show up in Albany with a billion dollars to spread around the legislature. The same process works everywhere else in the state as well, it’s just a little cheaper outside Albany. There is a big battle going on between the trail/snowmobile crowd and several of the tourist railroads there, most notably the Adirondack Scenic. It will get a lot uglier before it gets resolved. Just a though from a cynical ex New Yorker.
This ex-New Yorker says shame on them for hounding a good tourist line, worth a lot more than some damned snow mobile trail. No politicians listen to anyone who doesn’t bribe them, plain and simple. This country has gone to the dogs. Don’t lose an irrteplacable asset.
This was a really nice little operation. I guess I have one less reason to go back to the Catskills. There’s a billion other places I can go for a walk.
If these country good ol’ boys don’t want the train, and instead need a trail to play around with their gasoline powered toys, then the state should provide nothing for the trail either, since they are probably paying very little or no local property or sales taxes. Hand them the bill for removing the tracks, too.