Summer storms damaged rail line between Thendara and Tupper, but season wasn’t a total washout
By Tim Rowland
On Aug. 8, as four inches of rain was flooding highways and filling basements throughout the central New York region Frank Kobliski calls home, his worries were instead a couple hours to the east, where conditions were just as bad if not worse.
“When I heard they had gotten several inches just south of Thendara my heart sank,” said Kobliski, president of the Adirondack Railroad, which was in its inaugural season of running scenic trains north to Tupper Lake.
The rains had come just a few weeks before the colorful fall season, a critical point on the calendar for scenic railroads, which typically depend on robust ticket sales from leaf-peeping excursions to help make ends meet.
When the storm passed, inspectors were hastily dispatched. They rode the rails to Thendara, reporting minimal damage until at Carter Station north of Old Forge they found a major washout. It would take 800 tons of fill to restore. But at least it was within 1,000 feet of a road crossing, making it accessible to heavy equipment.
That wasn’t the case for the worst washout, which was soon discovered near the Beaver River, an inaccessible spot “in the middle of nowhere,” Kobliski said. There, the rails dangled cartoonishly in space above a washout 20 feet high and more than half a football field in length. It appeared the railroad’s season, which had gotten underway scarcely a month before, was over almost before it began.
Yet after “heroic” efforts on the part of a family contracting business and the state Department of Transportation, Kobliski said the track was repaired and the railroad was able to squeeze in two more long-distance runs to Tupper Lake in late October.
The DOT, which owns the line, still has not calculated the final cost of repairs, but the cost to the railroad in lost ticket sales was about $200,000.
Still, while the weather was the big story in the railroad’s first summer in Tupper, it wasn’t the only story. The trains that ran exceeded ridership expectations, and some sold out. The railbikes running out of Tupper Lake proved popular, and the railroad was able to gather feedback that will help them plan for the 2024 season, Kobliski said.
Paul Maroun, mayor of Tupper Lake, said the village has already seen some economic benefits, which he believes will grow as the railroad becomes more established. “It’s fun, it’s nice and it’s something different,” he said. “It’s going to revitalize that part of Tupper Lake (where the station is located).”
The scenic railroad was born of a compromise between those who felt (and still do) that the entire 134-mile line from Remsen to Tupper Lake should be devoted to trains, and those who felt (and still do) that the entire route should be converted into a recreational rail trail.
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State officials walk on the completed section of the Adirondack Rail Trail Friday, Dec. 1. Photo by Mike Lynch
The compromise refurbished the track from Thendara to Tupper and tore it up between Tupper and Lake Placid. The railroad was ready for use in late 2022, and the first segment of rail trail between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake was recently finished. Kobliski said the railroad attracted visitors from all 50 states, but riders were predominantly from the Northeast, along with Pennsylbania and Ohio, with a mix of dedicated rail buffs and general tourists.
Ticket buyers included “rare mileage collectors” who like the feel of riding long-abandoned railroads, and senior citizens and people with disabilities for whom the train is the only way to see genuine backcountry. “You’re going to see sights you couldn’t see anywhere else,” he said.
Some runs, including the High Peaks Limited between Utica and Tupper sold out, while others attracted enough riders to turn a profit. “We’re very happy with 60, 70, 80% capacity,” Kobliski said. “This is something unique and special, and it really was a good year for sales.”
The Adirondack Mountaineer runs to Tupper out of Thendara and includes a longer layover for passengers to eat, shop, ride a rail bike or take a shuttle to other local attractions, including The Wild Center natural history museum.
“We were all excited about the relaunch of the scenic railroad into Tupper,” said Marketing Director Nick Gunn. “Anything that gets folks to this town and explore not only The Wild Center, but all of the offerings that Tupper Lake has in terms of food, craft beer, shopping, art and culture is great for everyone.”
None of it might have been possible without frantic efforts to get the rails serviceable to salvage the last of the 2023 season. “Following the severe rains and flooding that impacted the region in August, New York State Department of Transportation crews and contractors worked diligently – in some instances working during weekend hours – to repair the damaged sections of the rail line used by the Adirondack Scenic Railroad as quickly as possible,” the DOT said in an email.
”They wanted to see it back in service as much as we did,” said Kobliski, whose great grandfather began a family tradition of railroad work in 1871 and, after his own career in public bus transportation, feels a personal connection with the line.
The work was largely performed by Herb Storer, who owns a waste-disposal and excavating business in Western New York, and whose family has prior experience with the Adirondack line.
Given the urgency, Storer recruited his wife Christine and grown children Moriah and Adam to help – they enjoy the Adirondacks, so it wasn’t an unpleasant experience, he said.
When he got a look at the Beaver River damage, Storer said he wasn’t so sure himself that the work could be completed this year. “It was a lot worse than the pictures show,” he said.
There was no nearby road access to accommodate excavators, and no cell service with which to communicate. Messages had to wait until his crew packed out for the night. Sometimes, if atmospheric conditions were right, a feeble signal filtered through the wilderness to one isolated, 50-foot patch of ground.
Storer’s crew at times worked seven days a week using three specially equipped, rail-riding dump trucks, to haul fill a load at a time, until the 4,500 tons of necessary material had been tamped into place.
“He beat what he said it would take by two weeks,” Kobliski said. “Ten weeks after that wall of water, the wheels were turning again.”
The work allowed two more High Peaks trains to arrive in Tupper; riders missed the leaf season, but Kobliski said they appreciated the greater panoramas opened up by bare trees.
Running scenic railroads at a profit is challenging, but Kobliski said the key is to have a good destination and to keep the experience fresh.
Fine-dining rides are popular, as is the annual Polar Express in December and other specialty trips – even the washouts themselves were a curiosity for late-season travelers. The railroad is planning rides from Utica to Thendara for next April’s solar eclipse, the southwestern Adirondacks being the edge of totality. Traveling further north is not an option due to the likelihood that snow drifts in deep rock cuts will not yet have melted.
The railroad has other plans as well, which may include transport for backcountry canoe and fly fishing excursions and tours out of Tupper Lake, with an eye toward history and education.
“We were thrilled with the ridership, and a lot of good things happened this year,” Kobliski said. “We think that portends good things to come next year, too.”
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Tupper Lake can’t seem to catch a break. Wouldn’t a night train from Utica or Thendara to TL to ski at the once-proposed ACR ski resort have been cool? Now these 100-year deluges are becoming more popular, and these washouts are likely to become more frequent and severe, significantly interrupting cash flow to associated businesses. One wonders if rehabilitating the rail line included engineering studies to foresee and harden potential wash-out areas.
Literally a lot is riding on keeping those rails safe and in service – especially early on. Startup businesses trying to take advantage of the revamped corridor will depend on uninterrupted service. A “shoestring” startup may not survive the first major interruption.
Best wishes for the line and a smoother 2024!
This is a good example of the advantage of a year round trail over the rail operation. The trail will be used all year by one means or another and those users will be spread all over the businesses at accesses, on the way to accesses, and spread through out the days. I don’t understand how any up start or established service can respond to the business scenario as proposed by the rail.
Also, again, the rail is all or none. the trail is ” go this way, go that way, go around”.
” Sunk Cost Logic” to keep doing the same thing because of invested time and money even when it’s wrong.
Just a couple of words here that Scott left out: Grooming Fees.
Scott would gain financially as a “groomer” for his segment of that trail. Indeed, he’s made several thousand dollars doing it in the past. Some of which had to be paid back, a few years ago when the state AG investigated his “club” as well as 2 other clubs for funds they charged the state for and shouldn’t have.
So, Scott’s interest is purely based on his income he derives from this. One would think he’d work something out with the RR to drop clients at his secluded resort. It’s a wonderful area and he should capitalize on it and work with the RR instead of beating it up.
Seriously? Where did you get that information? As a matter of fact, the club and we have been audited a couple times in the past ( as it should be ) and there were no problems. As a matter of fact, we were shorting our selves mileage. Yes, there is no vail on the fact our main interest is in maximizing the tourist trade for our selves and the region. Capitalist Dogs. You do know that grooming comes from registrations and clubs; does rail restoration, any of it, come from ticket sales or the railroad investors. Well, even though the trail will only produce a much smaller impact than it would have had it connected Old Forge to Lake Placid, the proof will be in the pudding; trail vs rail , interest and success.
Just for the record…here are some sources in this ADE letter that back up Doug’s claims….
https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2013/01/arta-tactics-and-leadership-in-question/
Keep looking Mr. Ordway, you will find the resulting audits proved all well. Since then Hamilton County is also using BRASS and the Thompsons to get this important trail groomed when it can be. Dave Link has been sour grapes since the get go. Dave was actually a friend when we both worked for the Adirondack Railroad for the 1980 Olympics. Hummm, didn’t work then either.
Scott….the idea of ANY ARTA board members using the term “sour grapes” is laughable at worst, downright pathetic at best. The fact that your group initially lost the fight but then basically rewrote the rules/laws to get what you guys wanted is about as textbook “sour grapes” as you can show. We’ve both been round this racetrack way too many times. If your group with all of it’s current political connections still feels the need to trash the railroad instead of cooperating to make both organizations work, then you clearly have a yet unfinished agenda which you’re apparently not making clear. You got your trail, so stuck a fork in your railroad hatred and concentrate on your blessed trail.
As for Dave Link having “sour grapes from the get to”…. you’re saying it’s wrong to hold grudges for so long? How many ARTA board members have been anti railroad for decades?
Just enough. Focus on what concerns you (eg: your trail) and let the others go on with their lives with as few headaches from you people as possible.
Thanks for the good wishes Boreas. Most of the North Country could not catch a break this past summer — the vagaries of the solar cycle brought rain events not seen for 200 years. The highway washouts in Long Lake, the extensive damage across Vermont, numerous highway damage locations across the DAKs, some yet to be fully repaired. What Mr. Rowland chronicled is a testament to the outstanding effort and ingenuity that restored to use this singularly important transportation corridor. We all can say thanks that the skiers, and snowmobile enthusiasts who use this corridor will also be able to ride this winter. Not sure what you consider a ‘shoestring’ startup — this RR has been growing for the past 30 years.
The shoestring startups I refer to are peripheral tourists businesses – restaurants, lodging, rentals, etc.. It can be fatal to a small business starting out getting hit with a big disruption in cash flow. That’s all I meant.
The best of rail lines can suffer wash outs, including the mighty New Haven line. Hopefully this spring will be kind .Everyone should give this operation a chance to hopefully improve the Tupper lake experience!
Look what happened with the mud slide that shut down Amtrak to NYC for few days, only a couple of months ago!
Rails follow stream valleys frequently out of necessity and so there is always risk of wash-outs. This is especially true in mountainous areas. There are work-arounds to protect infrastructure but that costs money. Too bad there are not industries along the way that could share access and help underwrite some of the expenses. Being exclusively a seasonal passenger run makes it that much harder.
Too bad there aren’t more trips originating at Tupper Lake. If there could be a sat/sun pair of round trips from Utica, I could go from Tupper to Utica on Saturday, spend the night there, and return on Sunday.
And importantly, downstaters could trek to Tupper Lake, stay overnight or longer with family/friends and save themselves the hassle of driving before returning downstate. This service it seems to me is just beginning to explore the possible. The trips that did originate in Tupper this past summer were sold out on every trip.
But why ?
Love the Adirondacks. Fresh air, Peaceful, Relaxing, Invigorating. My husband and I live in Indian Lake. We support this beautiful Park. I’m associated with the Loon Foundation and construct Loon nesting sites. My husband manufactures beautiful Adirondack Picture Frames keeping this ironic artwork alive!
I’m excited to find out that the run from Thendara to Tupper is open for business!
This stretch I feel, when compared to many tourist rail trains I have taken, has the potential to become the premier ride in the northeastern if not the entire eastern United States.
No tourist train in the east passes through such remote and varying scenery as this line does. To equal this diversity of forest, bogs, lakes, rivers, ponds and mountain views one has to head to Canada or Alaska.
I look forward to riding to Tupper, lodging for the night. Then continuing on with our bikes all the way to Placid. Then lodging and returning to Thendara with the same itinerary.
Hopefully in the future they will be able to drop off and pick up hikers and back country kayakers and canoers as well.
I only hope that this grand excursion will get more publicity, as in all the news that I have eagerly sought out about the progress of reestablishing this line. I am actually taken aback to only now find out that this line was open and running for a fair part of the 2023 season!!? If it wasn’t for the Explorer, I’d still be ignorantly awaiting for it’s grand opening!
Adirondacks can always have issues with weather. Trails would benefit many more people than train enthusiasts. You can hike , bike, ride horses, snowmobiles and off road vehicles even when conditions aren’t perfect and won’t cost all state taxpayers anything close to what keeping tourist train riders happy. Everyone in state pay millions for tracks and trains.
Spent many memorable Summers up in Otter Lake, unforgettable moments for sure. So fortunate to be involved with so many wonderful activities and sights of the mountains, wildlife, and experiences that are there to enjoy..
Appreciated the rides that we had on the Adirondack railway.. also on the boat from Old forge all the way up through the channels and lakes, with the scenery and all that we could take in..
So happy to know that the interest of others is still there,to keep the activities alive .. the railway, and the boat, all showing the beautiful sights to see.. thanks be to all the hard-working volunteers and others to help keep it all alive..
Those washouts will not stop occurring if the railroad were to be removed. Snowmobilers and skiers would be affected just as the trains are, and all the costs of repairs would go right to the taxpayers. The Adirondack Park snowmobile trail system already includes more than 1,800 miles of trail on both public and private land, they don’t need the railroad’s 45 miles.
The difficulty in getting access to these wash out sites shows that this rail line can get paddlers and hikers into some pretty cool remote areas. You just need to construct some whistle stop type tail heads where you can pick up and drop off people along the line. The Durango and Silverton in Colorado is famous for this. It could work really well here. Market it right and those cars will be pack all summer like they are in CO.
I’d say a low is that they claimed the holiday train ride was handicapped accessible, but turns out there was bo accessible shuttle to town for the festivities. When I asked what they did to accommodate people in wheelchairs, I was told they could sit at the station for 6 hours and wait. Not very accommodating. The lady was so insulting saying “everyone can transfer from their wheelchairs.” Really? I’ve loved the train for years, but our situation changed and I see how they treat people with disabilities. No thank you.