Saratoga & North Creek Railway (ex-UHRR) - 2011

There is also an article in the Saratogian about commuter rail and the start of freight operations. The comments on the article have a very anti-railroad slant. The typical scare tactics. They are going to haul wastes like the other Iowa Pacific lines do, they are going to destroy the environment hualing the tailings out of the mine. I think the bike path people are stiring the pot again.

Looks like they have been doing some more shopping. This set of cars seems to be heading for SNRCC aswell. They are really throwing money around! Great to see this operation really going to extra mile to get equipment

Times Union
NORTH CREEK — Could the abandoned mines at Tahawus once again fill a critical national need? A source of iron ore as early as the 1820s, the mines during World War II provided titanium used in manufacturing aircraft. To mine the titanium, a 30-mile federally funded rail line was built.
The war ended, the mine eventually shut down, and in 1989 the rail line was abandoned. Now, with a new owner, Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings, which operates the North Creek snow trains, the rail line is expected to re-open in the next six to 12 months. "There are three million tons of tailings. Barton Mines (in North Creek) has another two million tons," said Ed Ellis, president of Iowa Pacific, during an interview Thursday in Saratoga Springs. The tailings, rocks left over from mining, are in demand as road aggregate, Ellis said. He said the mine also contains rare earths, elements that have a range of applications from batteries and lasers to wind turbines and energy-efficient lighting.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/business/arti ... z1gLUbuWav


[please do not copy and paste entire articles from the web, that is a violation of copyright law. brief passage and link to original only, please - omv]

If the stretch to North Creek is profitable the last 30 miles cant be to bad. The track looks to be in decent condtion. Guess it will depend on what the overall cost to customers will be.

Just went by the North creek station today. Looks like they brought in 4 cars from something called "Florida Railway Adventures" that look like the old Super Chief cars; one baggage, two coach, one cafe, or it looked like it. Also brought in 2 more cars from the LIRR. They looked like they were also in the midst of refurbishing three of the old UHRR cars. The old rs36 was gone from the siding. Any word on it?

What ever happened to the old equipment that was just north of the last switch in North Creek? There was a flat car and a few old coachs up there

The RS36, 5019, was pushed up to the north end and put on a siding. The old coaches/flat cars were taken down to a siding near Corinth last fall. Probably still there. Apparently Iowa Pacific bought all the equipment, including #5, from UHRR. A few of the old coaches that were stored at the north end were owned by some other entity from Long Island.

Was wondering where the Florida Rail Adventures cars would wind up. Florida Rail Adventures, formerly known as Inland Lakes Railway, was a tourist road that operated out of Eustis, FL. They shut down last year rather than spend lots of money upgrading track. I took a little day trip over the route back in 2007; don't think we went more than 15 mph at any time.

My inside source tells me they've bought two more vintage locomotives, as well, but like an idiot I forgot to ask if it was okay to release the info yet. I imagine people are going to turn their dinners into bricks when they find out the details of what they are. I'll try and bug him later today on it.

Here is a link to an article in the Albany Times Union for Friday, December 23rd. Somehow I had a feeling that something like this might happen here. I hope they can resolve it and still get that line back running. I would think they would rather have the stuff moved out by train rather than huge trucks tearing up the roads in this area.

http://www.timesunion.com/business/arti ... 421117.php

Noel Weaver

I don't know why this group is challenging the restoration of this line. The North Country job market has been steadily decreasing and when someone comes in that may actually offer a way to employ many of the locals, they shoot it down. Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot. Pretty soon, no one will even be able to live in the 'Dacks. Side note, here's an old 1950's article I found about the mines and train traffic through. I didn't realize the grade that they had to go up out of North Creek.
http://trn.trains.com/~/media/Files/PDF ... DF057.ashx

No one living in the Adirondacks is kind of the goal of a lot of groups like this. And a large chunk if not the majority of their members/donors will not be from the Adirondacks, some won't have ever even been there.

lvrr325 wrote:My inside source tells me they've bought two more vintage locomotives, as well, but like an idiot I forgot to ask if it was okay to release the info yet. I imagine people are going to turn their dinners into bricks when they find out the details of what they are. I'll try and bug him later today on it.

CNY Chapter NRHS announced in their December newsletter that they sold their two "Lackawanna" E8's to S&NC, is this the news? Or are we talking about two in addition to that?

-otto-

trainman895 wrote:I don't know why this group is challenging the restoration of this line. The North Country job market has been steadily decreasing and when someone comes in that may actually offer a way to employ many of the locals, they shoot it down. Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot.

But we must preserve the quality of life inside Adirondack Park! That means no growth industries, no responsible development, and no job opportunities.

-otto-

Welcome to life inside the Blue line. Let's face it, the enviro-nazi knows full well how to manipulate the court system to drag out the processes for years. Look what it did for the U.S. nuclear industry. We all know the railroad is the best way for any person of any physical condition to view the beauty of the Adirondacks, and yet the enviro-nazi will limit access the Adirondacks to those only in physical condition to hike in and out to enjoy the beauty. I am sure the APA will also get their fingers into the pie and stir up trouble, as well as the Sierra Club.
too.

Just curious; are any of the ex-UHRR equipment able to be CFR-47.238-239 compliant?