No Ski Train this winter

Saratoga & North Creek Railway has decided to cut its snow train this season, with no passenger trains to North Creek planned until at least March next year.

The snow train trips were cut to holiday weekends last winter, but this season the railroad plans to scuttle it altogether through February, then consider adding some trips in March.

Full article in the Post-Star

It's unfortunate that they wont let snowmobiles use the tracks, it's the perfect connection for riders to access the Mullyville trails from the Lincoln Mountain/Gansevoort.  

I saw this in the PS this morning and had a chance to speak with our town supervisor about it. It seems that even though the train will not run (which btw is the 2nd year in a row that SNCRR has broken their contract deal), snowmobiles will not be allowed to use the tracks, because SNCRR may need to shuttle equipment back and forth between S and NC.
Now just to be clear, I think that the train is very important to our local NC economy for the jobs that it provides, but the winter usage has been a bust and snowmobiles always brought more people and supported more businesses.
SNCRR and Warren Cty have had brief discussions about a new contract as the current one runs out this week, it would be interesting to see if a seasonal use corridor for a rail/trail could be worked out for winter usage by snowmobiles, skiers, etc. extending all the way to Tahawus. It's always nice to dream
 

I was thinking way too small here-- I didn't even consider using the tracks to get all the way up north

The train never made sense to me.  It was fairly expensive and took more time to get there than it does to drive from Saratoga and I can drive right up to Gore and not wait for a bus to take me to and from the train and when I was ready to leave, I just left and didn't have to wait for a bus to a train.

Ski trains in the east seem to be a lost cause.  There is never enough traffic to justify using one instead of driving.  However, out west, where there are some major traffic issues, they would make a lot of sense.

Darkside Shaman wrote

it would be interesting to see if a seasonal use corridor for a rail/trail could be worked out for winter usage by snowmobiles, skiers, etc. extending all the way to Tahawus. It's always nice to dream

Yeah, I say rip up the tracks and make a rail trail from Saratoga to Tahawus. Trains are dumb. Nobody outside of urban areas (and surroundings) uses them for transportation, they're just novelties. Very expensive novelties.