Letter to VT state auditor regarding stealing the LV railroad

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Dear Randolf D Brock

I wi***o bring this to your attention, The Lamoille Valley Railroad is currently being scraped for a value of $ 2,344,000 for the scrap value of the steel from the rails. Scrap Rails metal market value is anywhere from 70 to 90.00 a ton. There is 80 miles of railroad track on the former LV railroad line. The rails are compsed of ties and plates and spikes. The bike path that is going to built on the right of way will cost anywhere from $10,000,000 to $16,000,000. The Federal government is being solicited for this funding. So why all but $75,000 of this is going to VT trans for highways instead of being put back into the bikepath? As a resident of this region and a user of both bike paths and Amtrak should not the sales of the scrap go back into railroads and bike paths instead of highways?The sale of the scrap metal and the price quoted looks suspect as Matt Tetrrealt has noted. It seems that VT trans is double dipping by asking the feds for more money for the bike path and at the same time collecting the money from the sale of the rails for other used then the railroad. It also should be noted that when the railroad ran it was poorly marketed and the railroad that ran it did not even have a answering machine to take incoming sales calls. The State did not take any bids or offer the railroad to NECR or Vermont Railway to operate.Please look into this and see if you can help me.

2

Dear Raymond,

Thank you for yout interest in the disposition of the Lamoille Valley Railroad and allocation of state funding. As I am sure you are aware of, the LVRC’s bridge traffic had essentially dried up by the mid 90’s and it’s local customer base not too long after that. In its current state of disrepair and projected cost to returning it an operable condition far exceed any anticipated return on investment. As was mentioned in the previous post, the costs incurred to salvage the rails, repair the highway crossings and roadbed (as a result of salvage operations) will be funded by the value of the scrap material. The balance will be returned to the general fund. We could however, leave it as it is, rotting away in place, unsuitable for any other purpose than to promote growth of vegetation and not recoup any of the investment the state has made in the LVRC.

Sincerely,

3

But the money should go into the trail or other railroads not the General fund!

4

The money should go to where it is most needed to benefit the greatest number of citizens…schools, hospitals, fire engines, mental illness, whatever…