Southern York County Life

HNizer - 05 August 2008 08:16 PM

The York Daily Record just ran an editorial about the Stewartstown Railroad.
Go to http://ydr.inyork.com/ydr/opinion/ci_10098186 to read the article.
Restore the Train Station and the Train Cars but turn the track right away over to the Rail Trail Authority for a hiking/ biking trail.
Now that sounds like the best of all worlds for our community.
What do others think?

Trail, no. Train, yes.

I would love it if they’d connect to the Heritage Rail Trail.  It would be great to bike into York or MD without having to drive to New Freedom or risk your life on roads without shoulders while biking to the trail in New Freedom.  I’m not exactly sure where the current rail track goes, but if it went close to Stonebridge/Walmart/Giant it would enable people to bike to shopping and restaurants.  Not to mention bike to the carpool parking lot to meet their ride.

It seems a biking/walking trail would be used much more, and by a wider range of people, than an excursion train that only ran a few times a month.

I think that creating a trail alongside the tracks is a great idea.  Its not like the excursion train travels at a high speed.  The Northern Central line has proven that trails and tracks can work well together.  Shrewsbury Township has included the portion of the tracks in the township on their Official Map as a possible trail.  If/when Hopewell Township creates an Official Map, I would encourage them to do the same thing.

Trail YES.  Train NO.

Otter - 06 August 2008 11:18 AM

Trail YES.  Train NO.

I continue to find it amazing that many people find it so easy to tell others what to do with private property.  The movie theater, the factory, the water tower.

The railroad right-of-way is private property.  The station is private property (and on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the Engine House and two of the bridges). 
http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS1&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000039

The cars are private property, mostly owned and maintained by individuals, not by the railroad.

If you want a rail trail, make Stewartstown Railroad an offer, buy the right of way, and donate it to the county.

By the way, how much in borough, township, and county dollars will it cost to create and maintain a rail trail?

i don’t hike, and i don’t ride a bicycle. i am in favor of restoring the track and running trains on it. if a hiking/biking trail can be placed alongside of the tracks, i would not be opposed.

No one is telling anyone what to do with their private property.  The question that was posed is what would you like to see happen.  I would like to see it converted to a rail trail.  My main reason is that a rail trail can be used by the community every day.  If they can ever get the trains running again it will be on a limited basis.  As for the question about how much it will cost the borough, township, etc., the answer is probably very little.  There are many sources of grants that can be used (this has been discussed in other threads).  No matter what is done, donations from the community will probably make up a large part of the financing.  That is why in my opinion, the rail trail is a better option.

I’m sorry, I took the opinion:

I would like
the Stewartstown Railroad
to become a “rail trail”.

And read between the lines:

I would like
Hopewell Township and Stewartstown Borough to acquire private property through donation, sale or seizure (eminent domain) of
the Stewartstown Railroad
right of way and for Hopewell Township, Stewartstown Borough and York County to make the necessary improvements for that right of way
to become a “rail trail”
to be maintained by Stewartstown Borough, Hopewell Township, and York County with tax dollars, grants, and donations, despite what the rightful owners want.

MDExile - 07 August 2008 11:58 AM

I would like
Hopewell Township and Stewartstown Borough to acquire private property through donation, sale or seizure (eminent domain) of
the Stewartstown Railroad

Why in the world would you want it taken by eminent domain?  I despise this law.  What if it were your property the government was seizing?

I would love a rail trail.  But I would be opposed to gaining one through eminent domain.  I didn’t know the two were inextricably connected.

There is a funny thing about railroads.  Even the little one we have here in Stewartstown are covered by some very powerful laws.  At the time the railroads were really at thier peak, they were owned by the great robber barons and thier successors.  These people also had terrific influence in the government.  As such, the railroads were given massive powers to seize property and right of way ‘for the good of the people’.  It was also nearly impossible to take anything from the railroad as well.  Over the years there has been a steady decline in the authority of the railroads and thier owners, but there still lingers a lot of the laws that were originally set up to protect them. 

The long and short of this is, that even if the county wanted to take the railroad, I dont know that they could.  But either way, I really dont see a rail trail becoming a reality any time soon.

C

Why in the world would you want it taken by eminent domain?  I despise this law.  What if it were your property the government was seizing?

I am not for eminent domain at all.  Quite to the contrary, I am completely against it.

It is easy to give an opinion “I want a rail trail”.  I was trying to point out all of the things that would be necessary to create a rail trail to see if it would change that opinion.

Too often, things that are perceived to be for the public good are not thought through to completion.  “The devil is in the details”, I was just being the Devil’s Advocate.

(Wow, can I use an more clichés, or have I hit my quota for one post)

I’m sorry for the confusion.  I guess that the sarcasm that I think is cute really isn’t most of the time.

MDExile - 08 August 2008 12:09 PM

Why in the world would you want it taken by eminent domain?  I despise this law.  What if it were your property the government was seizing?

I am not for eminent domain at all.  Quite to the contrary, I am completely against it.

It is easy to give an opinion “I want a rail trail”.  I was trying to point out all of the things that would be necessary to create a rail trail to see if it would change that opinion.

Too often, things that are perceived to be for the public good are not thought through to completion.  “The devil is in the details”, I was just being the Devil’s Advocate.

(Wow, can I use an more clichés, or have I hit my quota for one post)

I’m sorry for the confusion.  I guess that the sarcasm that I think is cute really isn’t most of the time.

OK - now I get ya!  It’s just that sarcasm isn’t as easily “heard” in a written post as it is in verbal communication.