After rushing it into production, I'm pleased to share my documentation of the Adirondack Railroad's inaugural High Peaks Limited to Tupper Lake, NY. This was the product of a large project to restore tourist service to the area, and I'll continue to document the developments next Spring.
https://youtu.be/PtgDGWYuzmw
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Nice video, glad to see what's left of the line open up.
Were those railbikes grandfathered in? Hard to believe they would still have been allowed on an active line otherwise.
Also calling the train the "High Peaks Limited" seems aspirational since the rails no longer go the the High Peaks area in Lake Placid/Essex County.
Harrison, hard at work gathering video:
The bridge over Racquette Flow, just south of Tupper Lake:
An unfortunate loss - The private station of William Seward Webb, builder of the line. The station served Nehasene, his great camp/estate on Lake Lila (named after his wife, Lila Vanderbilt). The camp was burned (intentionally) by the state some years ago.
All screen captures from my video. My GoPro was mounted on the nose of the lead locomotive, MHWA 2042 on the northbound leg. You might spot it if you look closely.
MWHA 2042 has a storied past. In an earlier life, it starred in the movie "Atomic Engine." Before it was repainted by MWHA, you could see the lettering from the movie.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
MidlandMike Nice video, glad to see what's left of the line open up. Were those railbikes grandfathered in? Hard to believe they would still have been allowed on an active line otherwise. Also calling the train the "High Peaks Limited" seems aspirational since the rails no longer go the the High Peaks area in Lake Placid/Essex County.
The rail bikes are part of the railroad's operations. They had probably already sold tickets for the 16th and thought they could accommodate both them and the train. That will have to be worked out for next season.
It is unfortunate that we can't see the train come all the way to Lake Placid (which is quite a bit closer to my home). However, I'll take what I can get.
Also, thanks for the screen captures Larry! I added you to the google drive so you can upload GoPro videos for use in my documentary.
MidlandMikeWere those railbikes grandfathered in? Hard to believe they would still have been allowed on an active line otherwise.
Their track occupancy is closely controlled and coordinated with train operations.
I'm glad to see the history of that Alco. I confess to having sat through "Atomic Train" and commenting 'what a waste of perfectly good M420s'. I am delighted to be wrong.
Another cameo by our colleague.
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/814934/
In the video I was impressed by the number of conductors/trainmen in traditional uniforms. Pretty snappy for a tourist railroad.
MidlandMike In the video I was impressed by the number of conductors/trainmen in traditional uniforms. Pretty snappy for a tourist railroad.
We try. We don't all have the same duds, and cap badges vary from ADK to NYC to whoever is the wearer's favorite, but it certainly still adds an air of professionalism to the operation.
I wasn't in uniform that day as I was simply there to monitor my GoPro to record the line for training purposes. I still wore a safety vest, though. Gotta keep up appearances. I can be seen in some of the various images that have been posted.
Several years ago I was working on our PE as one of the conductors. Had an adult passenger ask if we were working or just in costume. Working, of course. There is an actor handling the performance of conducter (a la the story). We just stay out of the way and keep the operation running as smoothly as possible from a railroad standpoint.
Local on-line article:
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/tupper-lake-rail
MidlandMikeLocal on-line article:
Far better than the other article which began by saying that the passengers (250, remember) got off the locomotive...
.
Harrison I would gladly cover any future railroad events for the paper, having taken only a couple of college English courses,
And you'd do a better job of it! Let me tell you, considering what I've seen lately with news reporting, both on-line and in print I'm not sure anyone's teaching proper English, grammar, and sentence structure anymore.
To say nothing about whether anyone proofreads articles anymore! Jeez, Joseph Pulitzer must be spinning in his grave!
Harrison All I have to say is she is the type of person/writer who I would expect to be your average trail advocate.
Care to expound on that? What is the average trail advocate?
PS. You can't say you'll "refrain from commenting", then make a comment.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Harrison... All I have to say is she is the type of person/writer who I would expect to be your average trail advocate. ...
She seemed to be happy with the state's compromise on trail conversion beyond Tupper Lake, in trade for help referbishing the track below Tupper. Still a loss for rail in my opinion, but at least she is not advocating for scrapping all the way back to Old Forge.
There are trail advocates, and there are "trail advocates..."
Never mind pulling the rails all the way to Thendara - there are those that still want them gone all the way to Remsen.
The "trail advocates" really don't want a trail at all - they just want everyone out of "their" woods. They were able to engage a lot of people (especially the snowmobilers) with promises of a "world class recreational trail," but we haven't heard much of them since the rails were lifted from Tupper to Placid. At present, I believe the corridor north of Tupper is actually closed...
That's probably because the main source of funding for the effort got rid of the rails on the causeway across "his" lake. Keep in mind that he was opposed to rail operations for the Olympics - 40 years ago.
At least one of the local newpapers in the region rarely, if ever, had anything good to say about the railroad. Letters to the editor favoring the rails were almost never printed - but if you were anti-rail, you would be guaranteed as many column inches as you could fill.
Many still lament the loss of the trackage. Businesses in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake were always welcoming to the riders the railroad brought.
In addition to the "get everyone out of their woods" segment, I'm sure that there are those who consider the rails a blight on the "forever wild" Adirondack forest.
tree68In addition to the "get everyone out of their woods" segment, I'm sure that there are those who consider the rails a blight on the "forever wild" Adirondack forest.
For sure.
Just look at their big push (which thankfully failed) to get a several fire towers removed back around 2010, since they were historic structures on land classified on the master plan as wilderness.
A lot of money and effort was invested to get those destroyed, but thankfully the public that appreciates their history, the views that they provide, and so on won the day.
Leo_AmesFor sure.
Stories abound.
A fellow was challenged because the metal roof on his cabin in the woods was red. The only way to see it was if you were on his property (well off the road) or from the air...
A group made some improvements on a trail (mostly snowmobile) and caught heck because they did too much (cutting trees, etc).
The county fought for several years to get a much needed radio tower. It's finally up and running. Now they'd like to add a couple more public safety towers (they're talking "Frankenpines") - you know, so fire and EMS can talk to their dispatchers - and they're getting major pushback.
Progress is a never-ending battle.
tree68The "trail advocates" really don't want a trail at all - they just want everyone out of "their" woods. They were able to engage a lot of people (especially the snowmobilers) with promises of a "world class recreational trail," but we haven't heard much of them since the rails were lifted from Tupper to Placid. At present, I believe the corridor north of Tupper is actually closed...
I expect there'll be a dogfight between the trail advocates and the snowmobilers at some point in the future. Kind of like the "marriage of convenience" between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union during WW2 turned into the Cold War after Germany was defeated.
Now that the Lake Placid section has been torn up and trail conversion started, trail users are already starting to abuse the privilege before the trail is even completed. They are wandering on to the construction site even after being warned repeatedly, bikes are tearing up partly completed sections, and they are using the trail to access other closed trails.
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/adirondack-rail-trail-2
MidlandMike trail users are already starting to abuse the privilege before the trail is even completed.
No surprise there...
The man that funded this whole fight is pleased by those reports I'm sure. He wants everyone out of his woods and the abuse of this rail trail will provide one of the stepping stones for the next phase of his war.
tree68 MidlandMike trail users are already starting to abuse the privilege before the trail is even completed. No surprise there...
Nope, no suprise at all. I predicted this when they first removed the rails, and now that I'll likely be working in Tupper Lake I'll be able to cover this firsthand. Man is it hard to stay "neutral" on this matter when it comes to YouTube...
More problems on the rail-trail:
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/community-airs-rail-trail-access-concerns
Leo_Ames The man that funded this whole fight is pleased by those reports I'm sure. He wants everyone out of his woods and the abuse of this rail trail will provide one of the stepping stones for the next phase of his war.
This is still an ongoing tale, many readers, and posters here have been following this 'Rails to Trails' saga for some time.
There are a long series of stories found in the "Search the Community' site, here:,use the term 'Adirondack". It seems that 'lawfare' is not only for some in the political arena, the 'Trail Advocate(s?)' seem to be equally adept at it, as well.
Here is a Thread line from late 2020 @:
https://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/284778.aspx?page=2#3285254
It lays out some of the plans to lift the rails of the ASR to its Northend, Lake Placid .
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