Railroad to Tahawus--not a bike trail.

Approval was granted to begin operations again on the rail to Tawahaus mines.  

The bike trail is dead--I guess.   Or as the article notes:  Can be reborn when the mine operations close.   Any idea how many years of mining are left up there?  


From SKI ADK (sorry Harv if I am routing people, but dont think you would mind)


http://forums.skiadk.com/showthread.php?2599-North-Creek-Ski-Train

Link corrected on 3/29/12

I think (?) this was the article you were looking for, link at the bottom:

NORTH CREEK — After early, vague legal concerns were voiced by the state Department of Environmental Conservation about the rail to Tahawus, the organization has come out in support of the plan to re-open the freight line to the old ilmenite mine.

The DEC wrote a joint letter with the state's Department of Transportation to the federal Surface Transportation Board March 15 urging approval of common carrier status for the Saratoga-North Creek Railway. It was filed Monday, March 19.

After an initial trickle of letters opposing the line or questioning its legality, there was a flood of letters submitted in support from chambers of commerce, town halls and individuals around the region. The DEC/DOT letter points to the frequently-cited environmental and highway maintenance benefits of opening the tracks to freight customers.

http://www.denpubs.com/news/2012/mar/21/dec-dot-now-back-tahawus-rr/

Thanks for responding, actually my link was bad.  I posted that article and much more all listed in the SKI ADK thread.    

http://www.denpubs.com/news/2012/may/14/politicians-hail-fed-decision-tahawus-railroad-lin/



Advises Congress gave clearance for the rail operator to be a common carrier, which opens the way to re-open the North Creek/Newcomb line...I am guess this is the Tahawas line, as the purpose it to get the tailings.  


This all came about, in my view, due to a group trying to get a hold of the defunct line and make it an awesome bike, walking trail.     There was a clause "if you dont use it, you loose it"    And from there (maybe) people got business ideas again.      

I wondered how long the rail would be open...so that a trail could be added when done.  One of the articles had a quote from the operator that they would look into transferring the line when their operations were done.  

My math:  They are touting the number of jobs this will create (a good thing) so they may be over estimating, but as you will see...not much hope for a trail.  Unless my facts are wrong.  


100, 000,000 tons of tailings.     (they say  using the rail will stop about 2 Million trucks from using 28N--that caught my eye)  

50-60 cubic yards fit in a rail car.     A cubic yard of sand weighs about 3000 pounds or 1.5 tons.    By dividing and estimating they run 220 trips a year...they admit they wont run in the winter.   With 70 rails cars per train...thats a lot.     It will take 112 yrs.  


So why not process the tailings insitu?   Guessing the EPA and APA are involved there.    

Prediction:   They are setting up this as a boon doggle to get Fed Grant money, line their pockets, run a few trains, loose money (becuase they put it in their pocket) and then abandon the project.   The rail is then protected as an assest for another 20 yrs.    

I am sure I am wrong on some things.     But if a 70 car train runs down the track once or twice a day...I am guessing the fun of that will wear off and people will start bitching.   In any event, the rails will remain open south of North Creek so the snow train will have an easier time and more maintenence money.    

I have been following this story since I donated to the friends of the Upper Hudson River Rail Trail.  I still think converting to a trail will bring more money for the railroad and town but who knows.

What I don't understand is if these tailings were worth so much money why the hell they wouldn't have either shipped them out when the line was still running OR truck them out now?  I know rail is cheaper but its not that much cheaper - especially when you gotta spend $$$$ to get the rails back into shape.  It doesn't seem to add up.  The justification from all the politicians seems very vague - more jobs, less truck traffic, blah blah blah.  We ought to be talking about how much money cyclists would be spending in town and on taking the railroad up from Saratoga.  That would be a story.

Danzilla.    You read my mind.   While I agree and admit that ti is gaming more popularity it is and has been valuable.  Why all the interest now in this pile of tailings?     This has govt. Money and back room shanaganigans writing all over it.      Hope I am wrong.   But if i am not the town of North creek and its residents will be worse off.  

The true test in my view,   if the company who is doing this can do it with their own money....its true.   However if grants start flying.....investigate.  

It may be cheaper for the corporation to fix up the roads over to the northway than fixing up those tracks.  A lot of the intersections where they go over the roads have been paved over.  I agree that is a ploy to keep control of the gateway and not allow the best use.  This type of crap burns my britches.  If they paved all the defunct tracks in the dacks we would be a cycling capital.   Instead for whatever reason people just like to f with the majority.  It seems pretty obvious to me but I am a simple person and am told all the time I am missing the big picture.  Then i start looking around for Randy Johnson and the subject gets changed.  carry on

The people who read this http://trn.trains.com/ are a powerful lobby like the NRA or something.

That is the only thing that makes sense.  Oh that and there's lots of grants that = free money.

Ding. Ding. Ding.      But hope we're wrong.      Hope and change.  You know

Two more articles in the News Enterprise on the rail line.  No need to link them because they say exactly what the initial, linked, article says.      The only news was there was an appeal by the Sierra club Etal., which lost.    

Look for construction crews to be in and around NC late this summer, I would expect.     They did reitterate full time jobs will bring estimated $160 K to the region.     (that is a govt estimate to make the numbers look good, so I would expect you can cut that number by 40%)    They also say it will take 2 million trucks off the road.    


Lets put it this way...if they did not activate the rail, there is NO WAY NC roads could handle that truck traffic.   I used to live in Johnstown Pa,,Coal trucks (smaller than standard semi's) were around, roads were always devastated with pot holes and washboard effect from braking.     The noise and dirt were crazy.     Good for NC on the rail, but only if this is not the boondoggle I sadly feel it is.      

Riding trail...dead.    No one said that but me.  Its my opinion.    

The rail allegedly opened carrying frieght from Barton Mines down south on Aug 8th.     This article advises Iowa Pacific is doing well and has great hope for the future of the rail through NC.     60,000 riders is amazing to me.  

http://www.newsenterprise.org/news/2012/aug/14/railways-extension-offers-multiple-benefits/