Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2018

At least one website reads to the effect that the switch was re-installed in 1986, but when it would have been removed is not indicated.

Original switch was located north of Smith Avenue. This was removed in 1976.

Ulster County installed a new switch south of Smith Avenue in 1986 and renovated the tracks to service the newly built Kingston Associates building which is north of the tracks between Cornell and O'Neil streets. A siding was installed, new crossings were installed at O'Neil and Cornell Streets. Kingston Associates (a recycling business) was switched by Conrail from 1986 to 1991 or so.

Conrail removed the switch in 1996 due to lack of traffic and lack of payment of a maintenance fee. Several attempts from 2006 to 2010 were made to bring a rail customer back to the building, but these never panned out. The lack of the switch was not a problem, just getting payment for replacing it. CSX has never been excited about putting the switch back in, but they would have to if a real customer needed to be serviced on the CMB.

EH

Things are getting interesting... https://www.facebook.com/UDRailwayRevit ... 0120473328" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ulster County is trying to dismiss this as nothing, but it appears they do NOT have all their ducks in a row.

eehiv wrote:Kingston Associates (a recycling business) was switched by Conrail from 1986 to 1991 or so.

Minor correction.

Kingston Associates was switched by CMRR. Cars were picked up and set out at the River Line switch by Conrail.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/opinion/201 ... eel-guilty" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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.

Otto Vondrak wrote: payments had not been kept up on maintenance (somehow CMRR never got the invoice).

How much you wanna bet that Ulster County got the bill and just didn't pay it. That would be typical.

Latest press release from the U&D Railway group... WOW, just WOW...

http://udrrcorp.com/wordpress/wp-conten ... -16-18.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is getting more interesting with each passing day. Their are serious legitimate questions that ulster county is going to have to address that they don’t have answers to. Talk about putting the cart before the horse...

I wish to quote one line from one of the press releases in the link I posted:

“It is difficult to avoid speculating that Ulster County chose to ignore inconvenient facts and proceeded in the hope that no one would notice“

I have believed this idea for a long time, that ulster county has used this “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” routine for years.

I would truly love to see this all blow up in the county's face.

scoostraw wrote:I would truly love to see this all blow up in the county's face.

Mr. Scoostraw, check out their Facebook page, U&D Railway Revitalization Corp. Comments are very interesting!

I'm surprised that there was no effort to get a court injunction against the county & the contractor while they wait for the STB. Probably a matter of picking their battles. Imagine if the STB rules in their favor & requires the county to re-install the track!

CSX may be required to maintain a connection to the national rail network, but they are not required to do it for free. Perhaps they could be convinced to reinstall the switch for a reduced price, if it will generate some loads.

airman00 wrote:

scoostraw wrote:I would truly love to see this all blow up in the county's face.

Mr. Scoostraw, check out their Facebook page, U&D Railway Revitalization Corp. Comments are very interesting!

I wouldn't get too excited. But at least there is a ray of hope.

airman00 wrote:I wish to quote one line from one of the press releases in the link I posted:

“It is difficult to avoid speculating that Ulster County chose to ignore inconvenient facts and proceeded in the hope that no one would notice“

I have believed this idea for a long time, that ulster county has used this “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” routine for years.

without devolving into a political discussion, that's how a lot of politics work. Particularly at the local level, in situations like this, where once something is done it's hard to undo.

lvrr325 wrote:

airman00 wrote:I wish to quote one line from one of the press releases in the link I posted:

“It is difficult to avoid speculating that Ulster County chose to ignore inconvenient facts and proceeded in the hope that no one would notice“

I have believed this idea for a long time, that ulster county has used this “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” routine for years.

without devolving into a political discussion, that's how a lot of politics work. Particularly at the local level, in situations like this, where once something is done it's hard to undo.

Except we’re not in Kansas anymore. The “local politics thing” might have been king in Ulster County, but now the county is dealing with “Washington” and a Federal Agency. That’s a whole other ball game! I understand completely what your saying, but we live in a society of rules and laws, and the laws apply to everyone, including ulster county. Forgive me I don’t mean to get political here, but ulster county’s “song & dance” routine won’t work in front of a Federal Agency.

airman00 wrote: Except we’re not in Kansas anymore. The “local politics thing” might have been king in Ulster County, but now the county is dealing with “Washington” and a Federal Agency. That’s a whole other ball game! I understand completely what your saying, but we live in a society of rules and laws, and the laws apply to everyone, including ulster county. Forgive me I don’t mean to get political here, but ulster county’s “song & dance” routine won’t work in front of a Federal Agency.

I do believe that was what he was trying to get at; this isn't that uncommon, that people with power who are incompetent inevitably bite off more than they can chew by messing with things that are far more organized than they're used to.