Extend the Catskill Mountain Railroad to the Glenford Dike!

As citizens of Ulster County, New York City and/or potential customers of the Catskill Mountain Railroad, we want the Catskill Mountain Railroad to extend west another five miles to include the scenic views of the Glenford Dike on the Ashokan Reservoir. This can be accomplished on existing track, with no investment of any public funds, will attract well over 50,000 paying tourists a year and will return more than $1 million dollars a year in visitor spending to the county and state coffers. Let the riders of the Catskill Mountain Railroad, who include very small children, aged and infirm senior citizens and handicapped individuals, share our magnificent resources and views with young and healthy hikers and bikers.

There is no reason rail and trail cannot coexist side by side on this segment of the U&D corridor. The New York City DEP and Ulster County recently announced that they want to turn the 11.5 mile railroad easement through the Ashokan Reservoir into a trail. This action cuts Ulster County’s Kingston to Phoenicia railroad permanently in half and does not allow the railroad or its riders to access any of the scenic views of the reservoir from east or west. The eastern 1.3 miles of this easement are more than wide enough to accommodate rail and trail, allowing the Catskill Mountain Railroad to double its ridership and economic impact to Kingston and Ulster County by bringing trains from Kingston to the Glenford Dike.

We ask that Commissioner Lloyd and Ulster County Executive Mike Hein reconsider their trail-only stance on this segment of the easement, which amounts to less than 10% of the entire easement. The highly successful Catskill Mountain Railroad, which carried over 40,000 passengers in 2014 (including over 2,100 from New York City), can more than double its economic impact by bringing passenger rail service to the eastern end of the Ashokan Reservoir or further west. However, without this extension, a tourist railroad cannot be sustainable in this area. The loss of the CMRR’s Kingston business will create a multi-million dollar loss in Kingston’s and Ulster County’s economy.

Link to the video of the corridor to the Glenford dike:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7yl7OUV768