The North Creek railway has been removing the equipment for its tourist trains and the remaining tankers stored on the tracks farther north
Judge overturns state’s rail trail decision
A Franklin County judge has shot down the state’s plan to create a rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, but supporters say the project is not dead.
APA approves rail trail
Despite agency’s vote, train supporters say the long battle over the state-owned rail corridor is not over. By Phil Brown The Adirondack Park Agency voted 9-1 in February to approve a controversial proposal to split a state-owned rail corridor into a rail segment and a trail segment, but the debate over the best use of the corridor is not over. The proposal calls for removing thirty-four miles of track between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake and fixing up forty-five miles of largely unused track between Tupper Lake and Big Moose. If implemented, Adirondack Scenic Railroad will have to discontinue a seasonal tourist train >>More
State mulls rail decision
Public remains split over the best use of 80-mile corridor running through wild lands. By Phil Brown After four public meetings on the future of the eighty-mile rail corridor between Big Moose and Lake Placid, the public seems as divided as ever, and the state now must make a decision sure to leave many people unhappy. The Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Transportation plan to review the public comments and make a recommendation for the best use of the state-owned corridor. After the public has had a chance to weigh in on that recommendation, the departments will make >>More
State revisits rail plan
Officials propose removing the tracks between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid to create a bike path. By Phil Brown For several years, people have been arguing over the future of a little-used rail corridor running through the heart of Adirondack wilderness. In June, the state offered a compromise, but partisans on both sides say they won’t give up the fight. Under the state’s proposal, the tracks between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid (thirty-four miles) would be replaced with a multi-use trail, but the tracks south of Tupper Lake (fifty-six miles) would remain intact. “This is just a proposal. We’re still going to >>More
Rail-trail questions
ARTA has no guarantees that the state would pay for or manage proposed recreational trail. By Brian Mann FOR MORE THAN TWO years, rail-trail activists have been pushing state officials to end decades of financial support for the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and convert a ninety-mile rail corridor between Old Forge and Lake Placid into a year-round multi-use recreational trail. Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates (ARTA) has argued that the tourism train has been a financial failure, requiring too much taxpayer support, and claimed that a rail trail would provide a bigger tourism draw. Since incorporating in February 2012, ARTA has barraged >>More