Catskill Mountain Railroad offers to help Ulster County repair washed-out areas
The Polar Express train operated by the Catskill Moutain
Railroad,crosses over Washington Avenue in Kingston last December.
Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman file
KINGSTON >> The Catskill Mountain Railroad, which is
embroiled in a legal battle with Ulster County, is offering its help
repair three washouts on the western end of the former Ulster &
Delaware RaiIroad line.
In a March 6 letter to Brian Cunningham, acting commissioner of
the county Department of Public Works, Catskill Mountain Railroad
President Ernie Hunt said the company “would like to assist Ulster
County DPW in any way to help in these repairs.”
He said he appointed the company’s engineer to serve as liaison
to the county and asked that Cunningham “schedule a working meeting ...
at the soonest practical date.”
Hunt’s offer follows an announcement made by County Executive
Michael Hein during a recent Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce
breakfast that the county will begin repairing the washed out areas.
Deputy County Executive Robert Sudlow said the county’s own
professional engineer will begin assessing the damage and how best to
proceed with the repairs once spring arrives.
“We have a professional engineer on staff, and I will defer to him,” Sudlow said.
He said he was unaware of Hunt’s letter to Cunningham.
“If I had the letter, my first step would be to go to the county
attorney because of the lawsuits that are pending,” Sudlow said.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad and the county are locked in a
legal battle stemming from the county’s attempt to evict the railroad
for not living up to the terms of its lease of county-owned tracks.
In 2012, Hein announced plans to turn the Ulster & Delaware line east of the Ashokan Reservoir into a pedestrian trail.
In June 2013, the county served the railroad with a notice of
default, claiming the railroad failed to live up to the terms of the
25-year lease under which it is allowed to operate tourist trains on the
tracks between Kingston and the Delaware County line. The railroad
currently uses two sections of track: one in the Kingston-Ulster area
and one between Mount Tremper and Phoenicia,
The railroad subsequently filed a lawsuit against the county to
stop the eviction prior to the May 31, 2016, the expiration date of the
lease, as well as “unspecified damages” it says it’s entitled to because
the county made “a number of statements that are derogatory and/or
untrue regarding the Catskill Mountain Railroad ... in press releases,
articles and/or public meetings.”
The county, in its countersuit, is seeking $1 million in damages
it says it is due as a result of the railroad’s default on the lease.
That lawsuit is pending before state Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott.
