Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2020

January 2, 2020

John Marino, Raphael DeMeglio, Sam Cogan, Peter Fluchere and Matt Gillis completed taking down the Polar Tent and storing materials for the next Polar Event.


January 7, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick worked at Hurley Mountain Road.


January 10, 2020

Earl Pardini did backhoe repairs.


January 11, 2020

Earl Pardini, John Marino, Art Vogel, Vince Guido, Bryan Van Kirk and Tom Whyte moved equipment into position for the section house move.


January 13, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick moved engine parts from the container to the box car.


January 13, 2020

Earl Pardini, Bryan Van Kirk, Art Vogel, Sam Cogan, Vince Guido, Tom Whyte, Tom Comito and Dave Heick moved the section house to its permanent location near MP 6.


January 22, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911.


January 23, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911.


January 24, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911.


January 26, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk and Art Vogel worked on the crane.


January 30, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer/Staff Coordinator
CMRR

February 3, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did cleanup work at the North Pole.


February 5, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick worked at the North Pole. Bryan n Kirk worked on the 2918.


February 7, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan, and Dave Heick worked on the 2911.


February 8, 2020

John Marino, Earl Pardini, Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Hilliard switched out the work train and repaired the Trailways crossing.


February 10, 2020

Sam Cogan, Dave Heick and Vince Guido removed the trailer from under the section house.


February 11, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick worked on the 2911.


February 16, 2020

Vince Guido installed the stairs on the section house.


February 20, 2020

The County issued a Certificate of Occupancy for the Section House.


February 21, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick worked on the 2911.


February 22, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick, John Marino and Earl Pardini did work on the 2911. John Marino did a track inspection.


February 24, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Earl Pardini, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911.


February 27, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick did work on the 2911. John Marino did a track inspection.


February 28 2020

John Marino, Tom Whyte, Vince Guido, Sam Cogan, Martin Elbrecht, and Dave Heick did cleanup work at the Section House.


February 29, 2020

John Marino, Bryan Van Kirk, Dave Hilliard, Ken Harris, Martin Elbrecht and Vince Guido moved all track materials from Hurley Mountain road to the new section house site. The section house is now in service for use by the track crews.





Ernie Hunt
Volunteer/Staff Coordinator
CMRR

March 5, 2020

Bryan Van Kirk, Art Vogel, Sam Cogan and Dave Heick worked on the 2911.


March 6, 2020

Earl Pardini and John Marino did a field inspection.


March 7, 2020

Sam Cogan did work in the Phoenicia yard. John Marino and Dave Hilliard did a field inspection.


March 9, 2020

Sam Cogan and Dave Heick moved P72 seats stored in Phoenicia to Kingston. Vince Guido cleared brush near the section house.


March 11, 2020

John Marino led a track crew consisting of Sam Cogan and Dave Heick.


March 12, 2020

John Marino led a track crew consisting of Sam Cogan and Dave Heick.


March 14, 2020

Vince Guido cleared brush near the section house.

The CMRR held its winter rules class.

No further work parties were held in March due to the current work shutdown in NY State.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer/Staff Coordinator
CMRR

What a bunch of slackers!! I was expecting something like

John Smith cleared brush at milepost 38
Joe Jones cleared brush at milepost 40
Sam Johnson cleared brush at milepost 42
Bob Brown cleared brush at milepost 44



Stay safe, guys!

Any idea when the RR will reopen? And how is the political climate of the county regarding the RR? I know you had a lot of previous trouble with the county.

Read the 2019 thread toward the end.

As for when they can open, best ask the king in Albany when he'll be gracious enough to allow it. My guess is work will be able to resume in June or July and they might get to run some fall trains, 50% capacity tops.

At the risk of sounding uneducated, why can’t the CMRR at least still work on track rehab? I get that running passenger excursions are prohibited right now, but isn’t the CMRR listed as a real for-profit railroad by the FRA? Reporting marks and all? I still see the CSX River Line fully operational, so why can’t the CMRR at least continue with trackwork? Just follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks, but at least keep the ship in good working order until things get better. Besides they could get a lot of trackwork done!

Edit: I will add that I’m pretty sure railroads were declared as essential businesses, and as such can continue to operate. I know the tourist excursion type trains cannot probably be run right now, but IF the CMRR is classified as more of a “real railroad” as opposed to a “tourist train”, then they should still be able to run work trains. They should still be able to keep the railroad open even if they can’t currently run passenger trains.

For all you know they are doing maintenance, but they're not going to admit it here. I mean if I was doing things that busybodies with nothing better to do might find questionable and raise a stink about, I sure wouldn't advertise I was doing it. I'd just go cut grass or brush, or clean litter, or install seats or whatever and if anyone asks later I'd be like Colonel Klink on Hogan's Heroes. "I know nothing!"

To all:

The CMRR is alive and well. We should be resuming maintenance activities once Phase I reopening for Ulster County begins, which should be soon.

Ernie Hunt
CMRR

I think CMRR is primarily a volunteer operation. So it would be up to them which of the essential services they perform, and which are essential-essential, like making sure things don't rust in place, preventing water damage, etc. Is CMRR holding videoconference meetings to plan their strategy for the rest of the year? (OT in Massachusetts people are griping that the governator is not giving enough notice to businesses ahead of potential changes, so they can't plan effectively)

May 25 1870 the first passenger train from Kingston operated to Mount Pleasant. The railroad was at that time known as the Rondout and Oswego.

CMRR will resume operations July 11th. EH

eehiv wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 10:49 pm CMRR will resume operations July 11th. EH

That is great to hear, but I am curious how the CMRR classifies itself relative to the list of businesses categories that are allowed to open (or not open) in all the various reopening phases in NYS. What sort of restrictions will there be with respect to capacity?

This is the tool you use to see when your business can open. You use the tool to look up if you can open. And on the sidebar, is the selection that takes you to the guidelines. You would need to know the business-type code for the CMRR to use the tool. Anyone can look it up.

https://forward.ny.gov/phase-four-industries

As of like last week that page literally linked to nothing.