Lake Placid rail removal - thanks again to our rails-to-trails "buddies"

[Fred M Cain]

Overmode,

So, what's the latest then?  How far has the dismantling proceeded?  Is there any hope at all of stopping it?

 

Regards,

Fred M. Cain

[Overmod]

Fred M Cain

So, what's the latest then?  How far has the dismantling proceeded?

They started, very appropriately, by lifting rails to disconnect the 34-mile stretch from the 'general system of transportation', even though that meant they couldn't use railborne equipment -- at least, nonstranded rail equipment -- to take the removed material directly to where it will be used for the rebuilding of the middle portion).  My understanding is that the removal work is proceeding toward Lake Placid, and I suspect that people both here and on RyPN can give you an accurate idea of how far it's gotten by a particular date.  There may be a page on the NYSDOT web site somewhere that describes the progress on the appropriate contract; I haven't bothered to look.

Is there any hope at all of stopping it?

No.  

I'm inclined to note this down in the 'people get the democracy they deserve' category: there was little likelihood of getting the millions needed to restore the 34 miles to passenger quality, even if the towns and Lake Placid itself cared, but the 'compromise' will greatly increase both the service range and the quality of the scenic operations, long before the general-purpose trail appears.

In my opinion, and it's only an opinion, should title to parts of the route not revert and it remains a valid 'transportation corridor', restoring it to acceptable-quality rail service would require little that a good TLM setup couldn't implement quickly and positively (see the recent work in Connecticut for an example).  I personally don't see this practically happening.

[charlie hebdo]

Overmod

 

 

Fred M Cain

So, what's the latest then?  How far has the dismantling proceeded?

 

 

They started, very appropriately, by lifting rails to disconnect the 34-mile stretch from the 'general system of transportation', even though that meant they couldn't use railborne equipment -- at least, nonstranded rail equipment -- to take the removed material directly to where it will be used for the rebuilding of the middle portion).  My understanding is that the removal work is proceeding toward Lake Placid, and I suspect that people both here and on RyPN can give you an accurate idea of how far it's gotten by a particular date.  There may be a page on the NYSDOT web site somewhere that describes the progress on the appropriate contract; I haven't bothered to look.

Is there any hope at all of stopping it?

No.  

I'm inclined to note this down in the 'people get the democracy they deserve' category: there was little likelihood of getting the millions needed to restore the 34 miles to passenger quality, even if the towns and Lake Placid itself cared, but the 'compromise' will greatly increase both the service range and the quality of the scenic operations, long before the general-purpose trail appears.

In my opinion, and it's only an opinion, should title to parts of the route not revert and it remains a valid 'transportation corridor', restoring it to acceptable-quality rail service would require little that a good TLM setup couldn't implement quickly and positively (see the recent work in Connecticut for an example).  I personally don't see this practically happening.

Is there or could there be a sufficient demand for such an undertaking? 

[tree68]

Overmod

 I personally don't see this practically happening.

I don't believe the trail will happen, either.  The forever wild/rich people couldn't get the snowmobilers, etc, out of their woods until the rails were gone.  Now that the rails are gone, it'll be back to wilderness before you know it.  

The trail isn't supposed to be complete until 2024 - plenty of time to get its construction blocked completely.

[charlie hebdo]

Overmod

 

 

Fred M Cain

So, what's the latest then?  How far has the dismantling proceeded?

 

 

They started, very appropriately, by lifting rails to disconnect the 34-mile stretch from the 'general system of transportation', even though that meant they couldn't use railborne equipment -- at least, nonstranded rail equipment -- to take the removed material directly to where it will be used for the rebuilding of the middle portion).  My understanding is that the removal work is proceeding toward Lake Placid, and I suspect that people both here and on RyPN can give you an accurate idea of how far it's gotten by a particular date.  There may be a page on the NYSDOT web site somewhere that describes the progress on the appropriate contract; I haven't bothered to look.

Is there any hope at all of stopping it?

No.  

I'm inclined to note this down in the 'people get the democracy they deserve' category: there was little likelihood of getting the millions needed to restore the 34 miles to passenger quality, even if the towns and Lake Placid itself cared, but the 'compromise' will greatly increase both the service range and the quality of the scenic operations, long before the general-purpose trail appears.

In my opinion, and it's only an opinion, should title to parts of the route not revert and it remains a valid 'transportation corridor', restoring it to acceptable-quality rail service would require little that a good TLM setup couldn't implement quickly and positively (see the recent work in Connecticut for an example).  I personally don't see this practically happening.

Is there or could there be a sufficient demand for such an undertaking? 

Running a museum line with only an old diesel wouldn't seem to cut it. 

[tree68]

charlie hebdo

Is there or could there be a sufficient demand for such an undertaking?  Running a museum line with only an old diesel wouldn't seem to cut it. 

During the summer of 1980, well after the Olympics, the Adirondack Railway logged 16,000 boardings of people who simply wanted to ride the line from Utica to Lake Placid and back.  There were actually two round trips a day.

The demand is there - if NYS chose to support and promote the line instead of pleasing a few rich people.

With 40MPH speeds the line is closer to mainline passenger service than any tourist line other than the Grand Canyon RR.  And it runs through a crown jewel of NY - the Adirondack park.  

[mvlandsw]

Once the rails and ties are removed what is needed to make it a trail? Maybe run a dozer through to level the ballast.

[Overmod]

mvlandsw

Once the rails and ties are removed what is needed to make it a trail? Maybe run a dozer through to level the ballast.

There are two parts to this.  The first step is to grade the surface profile so the roadbed can be groomed for snowmobile traffic (hence the signs going up restricting access only to snowmobiles).  

The multi-use trail involves considerably more grading, probably with a host of ADA-compliant features -- I would like to refer you to the NYSDOT plan for that phase of development, but everyone has been careful to keep a big red TBA on all the relevant aspects.  It does not appear to me at present that the state is going to commit much if any money to that conversion, leaving ARTA and the local communities who favored pulling the rails to cover both the initial improvement and the presumably volunteer labor to keep it maintained for multi-use.

[Backshop]

Most trails are maintained by volunteers, even the big, well known ones like the Appalachian, North Country, Finger Lakes, Superior, etc.  The government chips in with grants and help with big, expensive projects, but the day-to-day maintenance is done by local volunteers who "adopt" a section of trail.

[MidlandMike]

Dirt trails may be maintained by volunteers, but this trail is to be paved and ADA compliant.  In my state, Michigan, the big rail-trails are linear state parks.

[tree68]

MidlandMike

Dirt trails may be maintained by volunteers, but this trail is to be paved and ADA compliant.  In my state, Michigan, the big rail-trails are linear state parks.

 

I'm not sure it's to be paved - stone dust seems to be the go-to option.

A trail I like in Milford, MI is paved, and is all on land owned by either the village or the Metro Parks Authority.