Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2012

September 20, 2012

Earl Pardini and Joe Michaels set anchor bolts at C9 for the middle pier between the two girder bridges.


September 22, 2012

Train crew were Walt Otto, engineer, John Watson, Conductor, and Al Schoessow, car attendant. Peter Fluchere was ticket agent.

At Longyear switch, George Peck, Art Vogel, John Patane and I set out 10 rails to lengthen the switch, and spiked down one pair, lengthening the siding from 60 to 90 feet.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=203516

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=203517

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=203518

In Kingston on Saturday,Earl Pardini led a crew including Jim Bruck and Will Wilsey. Two large trees were removed that had fallen from the south side of the ROW across the tracks just east and west of the 587 overpass. At C-9 , mounting bolt holes for the pedestals on the girder bridge's middle pier were cut.


Sunday, September 23rd.

On Sunday the engineer was John Watson. Conductor was John Prestopino and Tony Bocchino the brakeman. Bruce DeVorkin was trainee. Ticket agent was Peter Fluchere.

At Longyear Switch, George Peck spiked down another 60 feet of siding, increasing capacity from 90 feet to 150 feet.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=203547

On Sunday at Cornell St., a yard crew including Earl Pardini, Ernie Klopping, Al Schoessow, and Mark Glaser worked on the following: Hydraulic control and air brake work on the 110B tamper, fabricate battery hold down frame. Lube service on tamper and scarifier. Adjust Hi-rail rear truck on MOW pickup; troubleshoot front/rear spotlites. Disassemble lift cylinder on stone dump cart,check for damage. Later,a sickle bar crew cut in-gage from O'neil St. ( MP 3.1 ) to the NYST overpass ( MP 4.84).


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Saturday, September 29th

George Peck will lead a crew to complete the Longyear Siding extension. He will start at Longyear's at 9am.

Earl Pardini plans to work on bridge C9. He will open Cornell Street at 9:00am.


Sunday, September 30th

George Peck will again lead a crew to complete the Longyear Siding extension. He will start at Longyear's 9am.

Earl Pardini plans to continue work on bridge C9. He will open Cornell Street at 9:30am. Mark Glaser and Al Schoessow plan to lead a track crew that will include use of the new tamper.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Tuesday, September 25th

Earl and Mimi Pardini and John Prestopino decorated the Mt. Tremper train and made minor repairs to the flat car and discharge walkway.


Friday September 28th

On Friday the Engineer was John Prestopino. Conductor was Neil Isabelle. Car attendant was Kathy Isabelle and trainee was George Truetle. Ticket agent was Peter Fluchere.


Saturday, September 29th

Al Schoessow was Engineer. Conductor was Ray Farrell. Brakeman was Neil Isabelle. Car attendant / trainee was George Truetle. Ticket agent was Peter Fluchere.

At Mt. Tremper, George Peck and Art Vogel continued work extending Longyear's siding.

In Kingston on Saturday, a bridge crew consisting of Earl Pardini, Bob Blake and Mark Glaser removed 8 old timbers from the west girder bridge and installed 4 new ones. An additional 10' of the west girder section's upper surface was needlescaled and painted.


Sunday, September 30th.

John Patane was engineer. Conductor was Walt Otto. Brakeman was Tony Bocchino. Car attendant was Russ Hallock. Ticket agent was George Bain assisted by Bob Shuman.

At Mt. Tremper, George Peck and Rich Bause spiked down another 60 feet of siding at Longyear's. It is now 300 feet long, with about 210 feet usable for storage.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=203729

In Kingston on Sunday, a track crew adjusted cross elevation in the Albany Ave. curve @ MP 3.4 and marked several ties for replacement using the newly refurbished Kingston tamper. At Cornell St. work continued on the stone cart's hydraulic system; a new lift cylinder was fitted and a pump and motor obtained. Today's tamping crew: Al Schoessow, John Prestopino, and Mark Glaser. Yard crew: Earl Pardini, Ernie Klopping.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Friday, October 5th

Our scenic train will be running Friday from 10am to 3pm.


Saturday, October 6th

George Peck will lead a crew to complete the Longyear Siding extension. He will start at Longyear's at 9am.

The scenic train will run from 10am to 3pm. We need as many hands as possible to handle parking and ticketing as this is one of our busiest days of the year.


Sunday, October 7th

George Peck will again lead a crew to complete the Longyear Siding extension. He will start at Longyear's 9am.

The scenic train will run from 10am to 3pm. We need as many hands as possible to help out!


Monday, October 8th

Scenic Train will run from 10am to 3pm.




Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Friday, October 5th

Engineer was John Prestopino. The conductor was Neil Isabelle. Brakeman was Ed Winstanley. Kathy Isabelle and George Truetle were car attendants. Ticket agent was Peter Fluchere. George Peck also helped.


Saturday, October 6th

Saturday crew wasAl Schoessow, enginner, John Watson, Conductor, Ray Farrell, Brakeman, Bill Kaba and Walt Otto, Trainmen, and George Bain was Ticket Agent. Harry Jameson, Mark Glaser, Thom Johnson, Pat Smalley, Earl & Mimi and Terry W. helped with crown control.

At Shokan, Art Vogel and George Peck loaded 25 ties and took them to Longyear's siding.


Sunday, October 7th

On Sunday the Engineer was John Watson. Conductor was Walt Otto and Tony Bocchino was brakeman. Ed Winstanley was trainman / car attendant. Al Schoessow was trainman and helped in the parking lot. Ticket agents were George Bain and Bruce DeVorkin. Pat Smalley assisted at the station. Parking lot crew was Harry Jameson, Al Schoessow, and Dave Hilliard, assisted by Earl Pardini. Earl and Mimi also entertained the passengers with onboard music.

George Peck and Neil Remsen installed 60 more feet of track at Longyear's siding, lengthening the siding to 300 feet, with 240 feet of storage.

In Kingston, Earl Pardini and Mark Glaser inserted and tamped five ties just west of the Albany Ave. bridge @ MP 3.4.


Monday, October 8th

On Monday the engineer was Al Schoessow. Conductor was John Prestopino. Tony Bocchino was brakeman. Dave Cenova was car attendant. Ticket agent was George Bain assisted by Pat Smalley. Parking lot crew were Harry Jameson and Russ Hallock.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

I am speechless at the article I found in today's Daily Freeman... So shocked, I am violating our fair-use rule:

http://dailyfreeman.com/articles/2012/1 ... 675670.txt

Ulster County Executive Michael Hein's trail plan angers train enthusiasts

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The chairman of the Catskill Mountain Railroad said a proposal by Ulster County Executive Michael Hein to rip up the railroad tracks and turn a stretch of the old Ulster & Delaware line into a walking trail is short-sighted.

Board Chairman Harry Jameson said the organization has long eyed the tracks, which wind past the Ashokan Reservior, as part of a long-term plan to connect its two existing scenic train rides and re-open the length of the railroad from Kingston to Phoenicia.

The Catskill Mountain Railroad currently operates the Esopus Scenic Train, which runs from Mount Tremper to Phoenicia, and the Kingston Shuttle in the city of Kingston. The organization hopes to link those two lines creating a single line running from Kingston to Phoenicia. Ulster County owns the majority of the rail line, which it leases to the Catskill Mountain Railroad under an agreement that expires in 2016.

“We’ve been all volunteer and trying to make this project come to fruition for 29 years now,” said Jameson. “I think the county is selling itself short by trying to put together a plan to scrap it all and confine us to our operations in Kingston and Phoenicia,” he said.

Jameson said the organization was unaware of Hein’s proposal until the executive unveiled it Friday as part of his 2013 budget presentation.

Hein said the long-term impact of converting the rail line into a rail trail would be “incalculable,” attracting tourism and business, and contributing to community fitness and quality of life.

“By adding to the tourism magnet that is the Walkway Over the Hudson, an interconnected U&D corridor with the O&W corridor which runs along state Route 209, as well as the Hudson Valley Rail Trail and the Walkill Valley Rail Trail, Ulster County will be well on our way to creating the single largest interconnected rail trail network in the state of New York,” Hein said. “This vision will result in a tremendous new, world-class tourism asset to add to our already long list of world class tourism attractions.”

Jameson said that “what would benefit the county the most,” was the proposal laid out in a 2006 feasibility study which called for a rail-plus-trail project. He said a scenic train ride running from the city of Kingston to Phoenicia “would be one of the biggest boons to Ulster County” since the Walkway Over the Hudson.

According to the 2006 feasibility study, any uses, other than the railroad, within reservoir lands would require New York City Department of Environmental Protection approval.

I thought this kind of insanity was only limited to the Adirondacks... Because we know how much trails are contributors to the local economy.

-otto-

Get the train extended across C9 sooner rather than later, guys. Track work in Kingston and sidings on the Phoenicia end can wait; you've got to prove to the local government that you're actually heading for Ashokan! That is the only way to stop this nonsense.

I wouldn't be surpirsed if the rails to trails lobby was behind the Hein's push to rip out the tracks. The lure of the dark side is storng.

neroden wrote:Get the train extended across C9 sooner rather than later, guys. Track work in Kingston and sidings on the Phoenicia end can wait; you've got to prove to the local government that you're actually heading for Ashokan! That is the only way to stop this nonsense.

lol we keep whipping and beating the volunteers to make them work faster and more often, but to no avail. Also, there's still the issue of repairing the flood damage from Hurricane Irene...

-otto-

I live in Buffalo ny what was home to seven different railroads at one time and was a major northeast hub for all of them. We have rails to trails all over the place thanks to conrail rail ripper Inc. Buffalo has not repeat has not become a tourist Mecca because of the hundreds of miles of trails here. Where do these idiots live in some fantasy world ,these people need to look at the reality of life around them. They should spend money on something like rehabing the tracks and maybe bring real jobs and tourist in. PS I work for a local village here that has a lehigh valley trail and it only gets little local use.

Here is the key line in this whole article!

"According to the 2006 feasibility study, any uses, other than the railroad,
within reservoir lands would require New York City Department of Environmental
Protection approval."

New York City, is not going to allow unrestricted access to one of it larger
water reservoirs. No way, No how!

The DEP is paranoid about protecting the water supply, and they have a right to
be, 8 million people depend on that water.

Brian

neroden wrote:Get the train extended across C9 sooner rather than later, guys. Track work in Kingston and sidings on the Phoenicia end can wait; you've got to prove to the local government that you're actually heading for Ashokan! That is the only way to stop this nonsense.

Absolutely right.

The CMRR needs to show they can get big things done. Focus on C9 - get the train across ASAP and get press coverage for that. And for God's sake get those junk cars pulled down from 209 and out of public view. These things are maybe even more important than running the shuttle trains at this point.

The CMRR does not have 'forever' to make things happen. To the railroad's detractors, 30 years is long enough for the CMRR to show what they can do.

I'm gonna get smacked for saying this, but I wonder why it's taken so long for the county to process our application for FEMA assistance to make repairs to the railroad for the flooding in 2011... and 2004... and 1988... and...

scoostraw wrote:The CMRR needs to show they can get big things done. Focus on C9 - get the train across ASAP and get press coverage for that. And for God's sake get those junk cars pulled down from 209 and out of public view. These things are maybe even more important than running the shuttle trains at this point. The CMRR does not have 'forever' to make things happen. To the railroad's detractors, 30 years is long enough for the CMRR to show what they can do.

Of course. You have to realize that none of this was made public until a day ago, so we're just as shocked as you are.

-otto-

Forgive my ignorance, but with proper safety precautions I cannot understand why rail & trail cannot co-exist? Seems to make more sense: drive to a spot, take train then walk/bike back or vise versa or ride/bike both ways or train both ways. What am I missing?

ricebrianrice wrote:Here is the key line in this whole article!

"According to the 2006 feasibility study, any uses, other than the railroad,
within reservoir lands would require New York City Department of Environmental
Protection approval."

New York City, is not going to allow unrestricted access to one of it larger
water reservoirs. No way, No how!

The DEP is paranoid about protecting the water supply, and they have a right to
be, 8 million people depend on that water.

Brian

Pepacton Reservoir has rowboats laid out all around it for people to be able to go out on the water. I guess the idea is so people won't use their own boats, captive boats don't introduce invasive plants or animals.