Railroad group to fix code violation for shed
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Catskill Mountain Railroad officials say they will correct alleged building violations with a structure that was relocated to the rail crossing at Hurley Mountain Road.
At a meeting Monday of the Ulster County Trail and Rail Advisory Committee meeting, organization President Ernie Hunt said the building measures 12-by-15 feet and is used for storing tools.
“We hired an engineer to basically get the building to whatever code they want it to be,” he said.
“It’s over 100 years old,” Hunt said. “It was an original ‘section house.’ ... Each part of the railroad was organized into sections and there was a crew based in this that would maintain the tracks. At one time, there was a vehicle stored in this thing that you would take out onto tracks and it would take you places.”
Hunt said the building had been in Shokan until earlier this year and previously had not undergone the same extensive inspection that county officials conducted on Oct. 3, after which the county gave notice that a building permit had not been issued for the structure.
Other alleged violations included failing to grade the property to prevent soil erosion, prevent accumulation of stagnant water and provide a proper foundation.
“The building is currently sitting on railroad ties and there is neither frost protection nor anchorage to protect from lateral forces (such as) wind, seismic,” county officials wrote. “The structure must have an approved foundation . ... It is important to note that the structure was placed on
“We hired an engineer to basically get the building to whatever code they want it to be.”
— Catskill Mountain Railroad President Ernie Hunt
disturbed ground with an unknown load bearing capacity.”
The notice stated that the “flooring at the section building shows signs of deterioration” and requires it to be repaired, with nearly identical comments made about the roof being “not in good repair.”
County officials added that the building fails to meet code requirements in lacking footings or frost protection, having stairs that are “unsecured and do not meet riser and tread depth requirements,” not having guards on stairs, and needs to have the guard on the porch finished.
Inspectors also stated being unable to verify the type of connectors and hardware used on the building.
“Based on visual inspection it appears that common nails were used throughout,” officials wrote.
Hunt noted that efforts to make improvements to the building, which was place on county-owned property as part of the lease agreement to use the tracks, were delayed because the organization had initially sought to get a permit from the town of Ulster.
“I didn’t know that the county issued building permits,” he said. “We just set it up the same way it was set up in Shokan and the town of Ulster originally said that was fine, but the county wanted to follow a more strict code about it.”