Railworks America

Okay, so if you live in Indiana or Illinois, you may have heard about the dispute between the Indiana Transportation Museum and the cities of Fishers and Nobelsville, Indiana. For those of you who haven't, long story short, some museum volunteers reported unsafe operations on the line between Nobelsville and Indianapolis, Indiana. The gov't owned corporation that owns the line, the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority called in the Federal Railroad Administration who deemed the track safe, or so the story goes. Fast forward to this week, the city gov'ts of Fishers and Nobelsville are trying to rip up the track and create a rails to trails type deal. Opinions?

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017 ... /98493462/

The city of Huntsville, AL is trying the same crap with the HMCR. The 14 mile railroad is owned and operated by the city, and it interchanges with NS and the Redstone Arsenal. They store a lot of freight cars for other roads as well. Some in the city want it ripped up for a trail. The landowners along the right-of-way have gotten wind of it and they pulling out their deeds claiming that the ROW reverts to them. And railroad is saying "we are still in business, you ain't taking nothin'!"

I don't see the point of trails unless its overly scenic.

JerryC wrote:The city of Huntsville, AL is trying the same crap with the HMCR. The 14 mile railroad is owned and operated by the city, and it interchanges with NS and the Redstone Arsenal. They store a lot of freight cars for other roads as well. Some in the city want it ripped up for a trail. The landowners along the right-of-way have gotten wind of it and they pulling out their deeds claiming that the ROW reverts to them. And railroad is saying "we are still in business, you ain't taking nothin'!"

Exactly. Problem is here, is the ITM hasn't interchanged with NS or CSX in many years. Purely an excursion railroad.

It's all about sales and marketing. You want to win this one you need to sell it. Remember all public officials are weasels so if you can sell your point to the public you will get your way.

buzz456 wrote:It's all about sales and marketing. You want to win this one you need to sell it. Remember all public officials are weasels so if you can sell your point to the public you will get your way.

Ya think? I honestly smell a rat due to the fact that they shut down the fair train last year, and now this happens. Although, HHPA would have to file for abandonment and all of that lovely stuff... One of members on another board I look at had this to say about the costs of the line repairs...

"Folks, we have been deceived. A retired track inspector from a western class 1, who is a close friend, got hold of the latest inspection report and found glaring problems. The 5 million is a false number. That number is for the entire line, including the out of service portions from22nd st to the end in Tipton and includes the cost of reconnecting to the NS at Tipton, plus almost all new crossing appliances and much, much more. Nearly everything on the report is POTENTIAL issues, not current problems and may never become problems. "It appears they just came up with every possible thing to do to the line to inflate the dollar amount so as to support their misguided plan to convert it to a trail and hood wink the public into thinking it's unsafe" he states. And when you realize that other than the women from the Madison Railroad who is the ports advisor, NOBODY at the port has any railroading experience WHATSOEVER you understand how we got to this point. And for the people who got it all started? Hold your heads in shame as a roughly 162 year piece of history is about to be gone forever. This is what happens when people open their mouths without thinking about the possible negatives of their actions" (Credit to AlcoGuy over at the Indiana Railroads Bull Session)

bpetit wrote:I don't see the point of trails unless its overly scenic.

Where I live, there's a trail right by me, and while I would have preferred the Erie Lackawanna to stay, It is very nice to ride on without being that scenic. However, I do a lot of biking so that's just me. They have added some RR based things by major road intersections and the start and end of the trail, like a restroom building thing looks like a station, and signs along the trail about the EL.

Metrarailfan wrote:

bpetit wrote:I don't see the point of trails unless its overly scenic.

Where I live, there's a trail right by me, and while I would have preferred the Erie Lackawanna to stay, It is very nice to ride on without being that scenic. However, I do a lot of biking so that's just me. They have added some RR based things by major road intersections and the start and end of the trail, like a restroom building thing looks like a station, and signs along the trail about the EL.

I mean, so do I. I'm honestly FOR putting a trail NEXT to the line, though. It looks as if Fishers already tore down the station, though...