To the Editor:

I am concerned about overwhelming misinformation and false promises being made by ARTA, a group whose ideas stand to harm our Remsen-to-Lake Placid corridor for rail travelers and snowmobilers alike.

As a snowmobiler for over 20 years and a volunteer at the Adirondack Scenic Railroad I understand the value of this corridor, and what we stand to lose by destroying our existing rail infrastructure.

So, before we do something we’ll regret forever, we need the facts.

First, the Adirondack Scenic Railroad is a not-for-profit 501C3 organization (ARPS).

The railroad has approximately 10 paid employees and over 150 active volunteers.

I will be the first to admit we do not have the finances to hire a public relations officer to make rebuttals to all of the misinformation that is spread about us. Our volunteers are too busy maintaining our fleet of equipment and operating trains over 80 miles of trackage in the Adirondacks.

But the fact is our trains, which are run by volunteers, make a major increase in the economy in the towns where we run, like Old Forge.

ARTA has been giving false information, outrageous numbers, and ridiculous predictions in letters to the editor and guest columns.

But the harm ARTA’s plan would do is quite real.

The current “Rails AND Trails” formula is not perfect, but it makes the best sense for our local economy.

Short of falsehoods and dubious claims, there’s simply no reason to end the benefits of rail operation.

Here’s what Old Forge businessman Dick Bird wrote last year about the notion that the addition of the rail corridor to the hundreds of existing trails would increase commerce:

“We already have trails all over the area. Where are all of the people [ARTA is] claiming would visit?”

Many people are under the false understanding that the railroad receives some huge budget funded by the State of New York and taxpayers on a yearly basis.

Not true. The Adirondack Scenic Railroad and its volunteers are permitted to maintain the corridor, NOT make improvements.

The railroad does not own the rails, the State of New York does, we are simply tenants. But we are valuable tenants.

Additionally, our presence helps keep the corridor available for snowmobiling in winter.

Our volunteers are out there cutting brush almost year round with very little if any assistance from the snowmobile clubs that use the corridor.

The railroad gets funded through a force account from the state. This averages $186,000 per year and also covers our track department and the fuel for all track and maintenance vehicles.

ARTA is telling everyone that it will be $40-45 million dollars to restore the railroad. The facts are far different as the railroad was just restored between Carter Station and Big Moose in fall of 2012. Using those current figures, the restoration of the railroad would be less than one-third of ARTA’s heavily inflated estimates.

Another piece of misinformation is ARTA’s heavily inflated scrap value of dismantling the railroad.

It would actually cost money to remove the tracks as railroad ties themselves cost about $7 each to get rid of and there are 3,050 of them per mile.

I fully understand that with this subject, like most others, it will be impossible to please everyone.

But, I think the State of NY made an excellent investment in purchasing the corridor knowing what it could do for the towns and economies around it. They need to stay the course and complete the railroad.

Again, while it doesn’t please everyone, I applaud them for its multi-use program.

Yet many snowmobilers have been misled into signing petitions against the railroad.

This is unfortunate because, though no one knows the future of the corridor without the railroad, the risk to snowmobiling is ENORMOUS.

The State unit corridor management plan reads on page 134:

Dismantle the Corridor. The ‘travel corridor’ classification of the Remsen-Lake Placid Corridor would be rescinded. Corridor lands would either be sold or State agency jurisdiction over them would be transferred. 

My interpretation of this is that it will convert back to “Forever Wild” and then we would have nothing—no railroad, no snowmobile trail.

NOTHING.

And no one can guarantee otherwise.

So let’s not be reckless. The potential for rails and trails is endless. Let’s not put our valuable corridor at risk.

Please take the time to attend a public meeting in regards to the corridor or send a letter of support to the State of NY supporting “Rails and Trails.”

Don Chaudruc

Thendara