Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2018

Saturday, April 28th

Today we had several crews working. Earl Pardini, Al Schoessow and John Marino installed joint bars in the guard rails on C9.

Art Vogel and Ernie Klopping worked on engine 42 and the scarifier. They repaired the charging problem in the 42.

Jim Bruck picked up tie shards west of Washington Avenue.

Rob Gaston worked in the station area near Westbrook Lane.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Saturday May 5th

On Saturday May 5th, Rob Gaston and Peter Fluchere worked on the new CMRR office at 333 Wall Street.

Ernie Klopping and Martin Elbrecht worked on the generator for car 2962.

Earl Pardini, John Marino and Al Schoessow worked on laying out ties for insertion next week from the Thruway crossing to just west of C9.


Sunday May 6th

John Marino, Al Schoessow, Earl Pardini and Pat Connors removed OTM west of the thruway crossing and laid out ties from C9 to 209 for insertion.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

New CMRR office?

Well I like the address of the office. Located on “Wall Street”. Now if only that were the New York City Wall Street!

Pics of Rail Explorers on exCMRR operated tracks:

http://media.dailyfreeman.com/2018/05/2 ... plorers/#1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thebigham wrote:Pics of Rail Explorers on exCMRR operated tracks:

http://media.dailyfreeman.com/2018/05/2 ... plorers/#1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Has Rail Explorers also assumed the maintenance tasks for this section of railroad?

-otto-

It's painfully obvious that this outfit hasn't put a nickel into the right of way noting pictures of people peddling towards rails overgrown with weeds. Are they hoping for a lawsuit stemming from a tick bite?

This is perfect for Hein and his minions. The novelty of rail explorers will wear off just about the time that the tracks will be in such disrepair that the county due to "safety" concerns will have to terminate the lease to remove the "hazardous" tracks to be replaced by a "scenic" rail trail that all can enjoy with no fees! An administration that sinks low enough to park a dump truck on the tracks would certainly be capable of doing this also.

Does NYS regulate Rail Explorers in the same way they regulate CMRR? I did find it ironic to see the pictures of the railcarts going over the track that had been washed out, then repaired by CMRR without the withheld FEMA money, and going over the bridge that (I think) was repaired by CMRR.

I came across this youtube video short that has some nice action shots on the Catskill Mountain Branch as well as a few stills. Thought it would be good to put it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQ5uuRlexk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

During track week (May 7-11), the CMRR inserted 841 ties from the Thruway at MP 4.89 to MP 5.95 at Hurley Mountain Road. Since then on May 12, 20, 23, 25, 26, 29 , 31 and June 1 CMRR crews tamped and spiked these ties.

Many thanks to the CMRR personnel who worked on this project including Earl Pardini, Al Schoessow, John Marino, Tom Whyte, Peter Fluchere, Brian Wade, Russell Hallock, Brian Van Kirk, Vince Guido, Todd Syska, Alex Sorenson and Fred Ehren.

EH

Saturday May 26th

On Saturday, May 26th the CMRR ran its first Great Train Robbery from Westbrook Lane to Kenco where customers got off, went to a tent and entertainment at Kenco before reboarding the train:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=244233" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Many thanks to the CMRR crew who made this happen: Tom Whyte, Karl Wick, John Marino, Fred Ehren and Russ Hallock. Many thanks to Peter Fluchere and Marcia Roosa in the ticket booth, and to our Event Coordinator, Rob Gaston.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Saturday June 2nd

On Saturday, June 2nd the CMRR ran its first Peace Train from Westbrook Lane to the JR crossing. There was great music on the train:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/CatskillMou ... 3510707386" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Many thanks to the CMRR crew who made this happen: Tom Whyte, Karl Wick, Art Vogel, Martin Elbrecht, Harrison Balduf and Joe Wolff. Many thanks to Peter Fluchere, Pat Smalley and Marcia Roosa in the ticket booth, and to our Event Coordinator, Rob Gaston.

Also many thanks to Earl Pardini, John Marino, Tom Whyte, Vince Guido, Bryan Van Kirl and Al Schoessow who worked on track Saturday morning.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

thebigham wrote:http://www.dailyfreeman.com/opinion/201 ... eel-guilty

LETTER: Ulster County Executive Michael Hein must feel guilty
POSTED: 02/09/18

Dear Editor:

I can see by his actions that Ulster County Executive Michael Hein is feeling guilty and worried about destroying our county’s history and disregarding the wishes of the majority of county residents by removing the railroad tracks alongside the Ashokan Reservoir and building a walking trail.

He could have saved a ton of money by putting a walking trail next to the tracks. His guilt has led to putting up fences, taking away our access to the property and our boats, and he has armed guards to protect the workers.

What is he afraid of?

I do not know why he thinks that taking away an income to the county and replacing it with a drain on the county budget is a good thing. He talks about bringing tourist dollars into the county and then throws them away.

Hein and all those who voted to remove our railroad and destroy our history should be voted out of office. They surely do not have the interest of the county and its residents at heart .

Doug Eighmey
West Hurley, N.Y.

When is the next county election? Is it in November? I hope some U&D supporters will be running - especially if CMRR could get business (which means jobs) for the area... Some of the idiots running the county thinks rail trails equals jobs...

eehiv wrote:To add a few items here:

The siding at Greenkill Avenue is out of service, and has been for years. We took delivery of coach 2940 there, and had to use a backhoe to move it into position as CSX would only go just past the switch itself. They have effectively abandoned the transload business in Kingston, and effectively most of the Hudson Valley. It was and is small potatoes for CSX but big for CMRR.

As for reinstalling the switch, there is a process with CSX. There is also funding available at the state level through the PFRAP program and this is the perfect type of project of that kind of grant as the economic benefits can be easily quantified.

The cost savings for local businesses to ship by rail grow larger the farther they have to ship. As for the lumber company, they are shipping lumber from the west coast by truck. Rail is much cheaper. They used to ship VIA CSX but had to stop when the siding they used was put out of service.

Columbia County got $2m to build a transload center in Hudson several years ago that failed partly because they had no shortline to operate it and therefore had a great deal of difficulty working out a deal with CSX. That center, if built, would have created about a dozen jobs. That is the bottom line that generates interest in this kind of facility from local towns and cities, and leads to funding from the state to make it happen.

https://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/cfa/project/1148" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/gover ... ooklet.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EH

Is the Hudson transload center still available? I mean, if someone created the Hudson & Connecticut RR, could the transload still be used?

The new end of track for the CMRR at MP 10.01:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=244220" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Despite our pleas to keep the next 1000 feet of track in place so we could connect with the trailhead for the new Ashokan Trail and bring passengers up from Kingston to the trail, Ulster County and the NYSDEP took every bit of track they could legally remove and made sure it never could be used to rebuild the line. They wouldn't even let us have the tie plates and joint bars for salvage. What a waste.

However, the CMRR still plans to rebuild at least one mile of track past this point when track repairs reach here next year.

EH