About Tim Rowland

Tim Rowland is a columnist, author and outdoors writer living in Jay.

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  1. Larry Roth says

    The Adirondacks are getting a hard lesson. Building an economy solely around tourism is like building on sand – it’s too easily disrupted, especially in an age of increasing disruption. Abandoning a piece of irreplaceable infrastructure for frivolous use is a waste of resources we can no longer afford. Essex and Warren County need to come together on this – and the state needs to update its priorities. Play time is coming to an end.

  2. Scott Thompson says

    So, who will benefit ? Who will have jobs? If cars brong recreation tourists, they stop every where as do snowmobiles. Where will the stone go? Won’t long distance hauling cost more than the stone? Then won’t it still need trucking to project sites? So where is the environmental gain?

  3. Boreas says

    Considering the rail’s route, I personally can’t see much of a long-term future for the line – at least to its terminus at Tahawus. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be useful for clearing up the existing mine tailings and and returning the mine to a semblance of a natural state in the short-term. In addition, it can be a test of how useful the line can be. Not just talk, wishes, and prayers, but actual development of the line for activity that is not supported by taxpayers alone. Give it another 5 years, get the mine re-naturalized, and see what happens to the lower section in the meantime. Closing a wild corridor to taxpayers without any rail activity other than railcar storage is a waste of the resource. If cleaning up the mine turns out to be the line’s last hurrah, then so be it.

  4. Scott Thompson says

    When do you get off the pot??
    In the greater scheme of things, the mine and remnants are more historic than blight and the tailing are a good source that won’t need to be brought from distance when needed in the Adirondacks. Don’t you think the last three attempts have been adequate to show ” It ain’t gonna work”? Really I don’t care much, but selfishly, it is just another example of how much better converting the Remsen to Lake Placid Corridor to a trail will be.

    • Boreas says

      “More historic than blight?” I don’t see the mine being used as a historical monument or attraction. If you have ever viewed it from the air or the High Peaks, your first thought isn’t “How quaint, a deserted, open mine scar!”. If indeed you want the rails gone, touting historical significance is likely going to work against you.

  5. Curt Austin says

    More delay, based on nostalgia and wishful thinking, not the clear history of the situation, and contrary to a rational analysis of the cost of transport for a commodity product. The potential customers of this stone will not be writing letters to the STB – there aren’t any. Imagine if the line had become a trail after the last train from the mine – 31 years ago. 31 years of public benefit, 31 years of economic benefit for Newcomb. We can’t get back the 31 years this resource has been wasted, but we can stop wasting time.

    • Scott Thompson says

      The Adirondack has been a (poor) snowmobile trail for almost as many years as it was a railroad. Now biking is the fastest growing outdoor activity ( surpassing golf)
      and the perfect activity in these troubled times yet here we sit trying to extend the third failure of the railroad. A once very important asset now outmoded and out dated.

  6. Curt Austin says

    Some want to keep the rail in order to reclaim the mine – I don’t think that would work out. If the stone-by-rail business had potential, it would continue for decades. The big pile would be gone within a few years – I’ve done the calculations – and then other, partially vegetated piles would be uncovered and crushed. Ever hear a big crusher operating? The two pits will not be filled in.

    Better to allow nature have its way. The big pile is already two-thirds gone (source: NL’s former manager); the current trucking operation will remove it soon enough.

    But again, there will be no stone-by-rail business – pick a cost per ton-mile somewhere in the range of two to five cents, do the calculation, and compare it to the price of stone.

  7. Boreas says

    Curt,

    I certainly am not saying removing the tailings or pushing them into the pits would be profitable. I am saying the state’s EPF could be used to help pay for re-naturalization, as well as previous owners if toxic waste problems are found. If NYS is fine with leaving the environmental scars from the mine, then I am all for re-purposing at least the Tahawus section of the line. If they don’t do it now, the line will just deteriorate further until they can’t use it.

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