Adirondack Rail Trail a boon

Adirondack Rail Trail. Build it, build it NOW!

You’ve got to be kidding is right! There is a good reason the Rail status has not changed appreciably in 50 years. Snowmobiles, love’ em or hate’ em, have been the primary income for the largest portions in the Adirondacks since the ‘60s? Ski hills are great, but they are not self-sustaining. True, snowmobiles can go almost anywhere, but they won’t. The best business comes from well-maintained community connectors.

Those who know snowmobiling understand the difference. Bicycles? Read the articles man, in rail trail towns across the country they are known as wallets on wheels. There is a good reason why almost every hospitality business from Big Moose to Lake Placid has supported the trail.

For the rail supporters this seems to be a religion; for me, business. If you don’t think this ($8 million not $11) will be money well spent, you don’t know business in the Adirondacks. Remember, the snowmobile use could be immediate when the rails and ties are removed ($0 invested) unlike the trains that are stymied every time there is a glitch in the tracks. With expenditures to keep the Adirondack Scenic Railroad “on track” for somewhere on the order of $40 million, even an avid train fan would have to question the viability of such a venture. Having worked for this railroad for the 1980 Olympics and living in Beaver River where the corridor is a life line, you might say “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.”

Scott S. Thompson, Eagle Bay