Storage at rail yard could lead to daily fines
The town of Shandaken has issued a Notice of Violation to the Catskill Mountain Railroad for placing trains and related equipment on the railroad’s property in the hamlet of Phoenicia.
The notice, on orange paper and tacked to a utility pole at the edge of the property, gives the railroad 30 days to remove the items or face fines of up to $250 per day.
The notice, dated Feb. 24, is signed by Shandaken Code Enforcement Office Warren Tutt. It cites the railroad for the “installation of ballast, ties, rails and the storage of railroad equipment” and says the railroad has until March 25 to rectify the situation.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad moved trains and related items onto the property the weekend of Jan. 21-22, a week before its deadline to remove equipment from tracks belonging to Ulster County.
The railroad asked Shandaken
officials for permission to use the 2.5-acre site for storage, but when it became clear that the town Planning Board would not act before the Jan. 29 deadline, the railroad acted on its own.
Catskill Mountain Railroad trains and related items had to be moved off the county-owned tracks, part of the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad line, because its contract to provide scenic train rides on the tracks between Mount Tremper and Phoenicia had expired.
Before moving items onto the Phoenicia property, Catskill Mountain Railroad volunteers cleared the site, cut trees, leveled the ground and put down crushed stone that typically is used for parking
areas and driveways. Doing so, Tutt said at the time, did not violate any town regulations.
But volunteers then put down railroad tracks on the property, and on Jan. 22, they installed connector lines that linked the newly laid tracks to the county’s line. As darkness began to fall, they drove their trains off the county line and onto the lines on their own property, then they disengaged the connector
lines and put the county’s track back the way it was.
Catskill Mountain Railroad President Ernie Hunt said Monday that he was not concerned about the violation notice. The way he sees it, the railroad was cited because it has not yet suppled the town with a technical analysis to show the addition of the ballast, ties, rails and railroad equipment will not increase
flooding during high-water events. That information is being prepared, he said.
“It has to do with the flood-prevention code,” he said.
Others disagree. Anique Taylor, a neighbor of the property, said there’s more to the violation than flood concerns.
“The violation cites the ‘installation of ballast, ties, and rails,’ which doesn’t impact water rise
yet is still named as a violation, plus ‘storage of railroad equipment,’” she wrote in an email. “The focus needs to remain on whether they’re allowed to store their trains and equipment on residential properties, not on whether such equipment can be flood-proofed.”
The railroad still is trying to get a permit for the equipment storage from the Shandaken Planning Board.