Sure, love to. Mind you, I'll also add my input here, too.
Here's the quote from the third paragraph of the article:
"The local rail maintained by New York & Lake Erie Railroad Inc. received $732,768 to rehabilitate the rail line between South Dayton and Cherry Creek, which will allow passengers to travel from Gowanda to Cherry Creek."
Here's the text from the rail grant press release:
"The local rail maintained by New York & Lake Erie Railroad Inc. received $732,768 to rehabilitate the rail line between South Dayton and Cherry Creek, which will allow passengers to travel from Gowanda to Cherry Creek." (
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/govern ... -statewide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Paragraph four from the Post-Journal article:
"This is just step one in the local rail owner's minds. Robert Dingman, owner of New York & Lake Erie Railroad Inc., believes that this could become much more for Western New York. The upgraded rails could enhance the experience for business out here, but more money is needed."
The current rail line operator has done little with the line as is, and in the not too distant past was looking to rip up rails on the line.
Paragraphs five and six from the Post-Journal article:
""The rail mine (sic) that runs from Buffalo to Jamestown that line has been disused as a through route since 1974," Dingman said. "It's been separated in pieces, but in order to resurrect the line and use it for the future, you need some argument on why you should do it. And the thing that I come up with is tourism.
"We are going to be able to flow people to festivals. Not because it's the fastest means of transportation, but because rail tourism is a $400 million industry in the U.S."
There are a variety of reasons why this cannot happen with Dingman at the helm. I'm happy to say more later.
Paragraph summary for paragraphs seven, eight and nine:
A partial list of rail grants that has been provided for the region. Additionally, since the big idea is now to do "tourism," the grant language for other areas off the NYLE is for business. Business which has been allowed to wither under the current operator.
Paragraph ten from the Post-Journal article:
"They (the Erie County Industrial Development Agency) made a commitment in their grant application to run (passenger transportation) activity," Dingman said, "and to reconnect to the Southern Tier. That's a big positive step forward."
There is zero chance for this to happen with the current operator. There has been not only zero progress along these lines since 2003, the line I assume he means has been allowed to fall into total disrepair...just like the eastern branch of the line has.
However, my personal favorite comes from the end of the article.
Again, from the article:
"
Others will need to put together an effort to transport people into this area.
(italics mine)
"It requires some cooperation between different municipalities that control the line, different operators that control different pieces of the line," Dingman said. "But (tourism) is doable and what this grant application shows is that somebody beyond us has said this sounds like an idea we can support. They put money where our mouth was, I guess."
I'm blown away that money was given to this line. I can't fathom what the IDA is doing allowing this guy to continue to play with a 1:1 trainset when other choices are out there.
By the way, I Googled the title and found the article in full. I don't know if that stuff gets taken down or whatever: anyone is welcome to yank the content if needed.
Dave Becker
