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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #1520256  by b&m 1566
 
For those not aware, there will be a meeting held next Wednesday, 9/25 from 6pm to 8pm at the Guilford Public Library. This meeting will be in regards to what became an entire state study, not just a Laconia study on the WOW Trail. I imagine they will try to incorporate other areas not related to the WOW trail and phase 3 but no doubt the hot button issue of the night will surely be in regards to phase 3 and 4. By the time I get out of work, I'll never make it but would live to be there for it. See the website for more information and how the state broke up the regions for the other meetings (under events).
 #1522648  by b&m 1566
 
The WOW Trail presented the study done by Alta Planning and Design to the Laconia City council meeting lastnight. As expected the trail is exceptionally better than rail.
It is less expensive to pull up tracks and put trail in its place than it is to build a trail alongside the tracks.
The study showed a 32:1 benefit-cost ratio for building the trail in place of the tracks, four times higher than putting it alongside the tracks.
Beetle described the railroad right of way as “spectacular, underutilized real estate” that could be transformed into an economic engine and source of pride for the community.
Click here to read the rest of the article. I haven't tried looking for it yet but I hope that report is for public viewing.

So now what? We all know the city and trail members and advocates are going to campaign and lobby hard to get the state to change it's stance that rail takes priority.
 #1522651  by BowdoinStation
 
Mr. Beetle sure plays the old wind song with his misinformed facts. The WOW Trail study paid for by the WOW Trail and Laconia taxpayers got told exactly what they wanted to hear. If someone gave me 40K to do a study, I would tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. Sort of like the Laconia Sun's Best of the Lakes Region Poll. You pay to win with meaningless bragging rights. Also you can tell the paper's inherent bias in the writer's story. The disputed areas is a very active set of tracks. What kind of exact jobs would be created ? Doesn't the Winnipesaukee Scenic add lots of dollars to the local economy ? Just ask all the local vendors that work with the WS..

I wonder if the Northern Rail Trail has brought in that kind of income to the towns along the line.. Quite doubtful. So Mr. Beetle desires to put a thriving business, out of business. He is right about the spectacular views overlooking Paugus Bay, the area where the Winnipesaukee Scenic runs and the area the WOW people want the tracks to be torn up. The good part is that he and others can take a final train ride for the season and take the sights all in.

After all a low information public is better than no public at all..
 #1522743  by Hux
 
eustis22 wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:18 pm Well if the trains aren't there thats prime waterfront real estate.
It's prime regardless. What is laughable is the idea of the trail being an economic" engine." The same people who would use the trail are already spending money in the area. Unless they plan to put food trucks on their lawns and charge a toll for using the trail, the economic gains are nil.

And then there is the matter of people using the trail, with or without rail in place. You can bet the folks who don't like a relatively infrequent train rolling by are also going to gripe about walkers and cyclists and all other manner of travelers as they transit across their waterfront properties.
 #1522744  by b&m 1566
 
Well, I don't know what's going to happen next, I don't think anybody does really. If I had to guess, they will "secretly" try to build up political support to get the politicians to back the trail and they are going to need a lot of it, because there's a New Hampshire law prohibiting the destruction of the state owned rail line (any rail line for that matter) and the STB that still has the line under its umbrella and two active railroad companies, one of which is a common carrier. We may not hear anything else on this issue for the next year, five or even 10 but I'm willing to bet they will be very active lobbing for their goal. If you get politicians on your side it's fair game in my opinion, so it can't be taken lightly and laughed off because they maybe the ones smiling in the end.
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