Good - maybe they’ll tear up the tracks and terrible crossing by Bailey Springs and put in a walking trail that everyone can use, instead of tracks that nobody can use.
Seems like there are a lot of places in the are to walk. I don’t live in S’town therefore I do not have a say nor should I. But I think S’town making the right decisions is important for the entire area. Like . . . . how about finding a business or businesses (perhaps Summer’s is one) to fix up or rebuild the station and put their business in there along with some historically significant information about local railroading.
So I make my final plea regarding Stewartstown Railroad this way (if nothing else it will at least get the curious to open up their Bibles )
I do live in Stewartstown. Where are there places to walk? The grass trails in the newer rec area of Plank are nice, but rather short and not bike/stroller friendly. A 7.4 mile trail would be amazing and a huge community asset.
We run into Stewartstown neighbors on the NCR trail all the time, even way down in MD. But we’ve never run into neighbors at the Ma & Pa, Strasburg or Baltimore Train Museums, all of which are within an hour of our house, I wonder how many places in the US have THREE train museums within an hour of their town?
They don’t have to go it alone. Historical society could help. Multiple businesses could share, they would make more money in the long run. For instance perhaps they get say Rutter’s and/or State Farms to sponsor part of it with their names on the new exhibit and seats on the board. Perhaps that business across the street from Summer’s would like to do more than just put up an ugly orange fence. Perhaps the borough could speak with the zoning board and ask them to ‘help’ things along by enforcing regulations that have to be on their books or should be that for one don’t allow temporary construction fencing to be up every spring and summer from here to eternity. Also if Summer’s is not in violation of something somewhere I’ll be a money’s uncle. Let’s face it, the situation that exist now at Summer’s cannot last forever. It would be in EVERYONE’s best interest to at least explore other arrangements. What do these businesses in that area owe the community? A parking lot? A new walking path for the community to maintain? Who was going to pay for that? The businesses in Bailey’s Springs? Why should they? A new walking path won’t bring them in a new customer base . . . . but a renovated RR Station with an Ice Cream parlor, sandwich shop and local historical exhibits might lead to a museum of local history in one of the old buildings up on Main Street, which might eventually lead to Rehmeyer’s Hollow being a local museum, open some shops, have some public events around the holidays, perhaps a museum about the “bums of Bailey’s Woods”, explore what that meant to society at the time and what does it mean today good and bad, agricultural history of the area, manufacturing history, labor history, some bed and breakfasts, in anywhere from 10 -30 years. Speculation, sure, but you have to start somewhere. You need to have community leaders with vision that help organize and promote such things. Mediate the negotiations between the parties, work with other boroughs to have them participate if they want to get in on the act. At the same time create an alternate plan to bring in office buildings and white collar jobs. Works with local colleges on both projects. Even if you don’t get to the ultimate end game you have added more value to the community by taking advantage of your own heritage.
Even if nothing at all comes of it and the RR Station goes anyway, you’ve at least opened up a conversation about the future of the borough being more than just a bedroom community with an ugly @$$ intersection.
Jason you said one important word in that last post that really stood out… VISION.
That is something that is sorely lacking among our local leaders and good old boys. I would love to see that change but I am afraid the next generation of good old boys is digging in. These are the ones in their late 30’s to early 50’s that were born and raised here.
Hopefully our business leaders show some vision and maybe enough of our newer population too. It would be great to see progress in this community. Preserving history is nice but it needs to be balanced with progress. There are those that oppose progress… They need to go. Their poison kills towns like this. There was a lot of progress from the 1800’s to the late 1900’s. Then the ones that are now in the 60-75 range took over. It is their kids that are continuing this trend.
I like your thoughts Jason. A trail would bring business to town. Small but hopefully sustainable.
I do live in Stewartstown. Where are there places to walk? The grass trails in the newer rec area of Plank are nice, but rather short and not bike/stroller friendly. A 7.4 mile trail would be amazing and a huge community asset.
We run into Stewartstown neighbors on the NCR trail all the time, even way down in MD. But we’ve never run into neighbors at the Ma & Pa, Strasburg or Baltimore Train Museums, all of which are within an hour of our house, I wonder how many places in the US have THREE train museums within an hour of their town?
HARP has places to walk from College Ave. to Felton. Not to mention Main Street as far up 24 as you want to go.
Perhaps your neighbor’s just aren’t interested in local and state heritage. How many of your neighbors know why Bailey Springs is called Bailey Springs? How many of your neighbors can tie together the history of mining, labor, rail roads, manufacturing, and agriculture in the state of PA? How many of your neighbors have, say. . . visited the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg? Or the Science Center? Or the Children’s Museum in Lancaster? If they are from MD, I can say that I have already spoken to some folks that have come up from MD and think that MD is a larger state than PA. How many “train chasers” do you know? (I know a few). Maybe they just need something to get them interested. I think if you build it they will come.
Besides your neighbors aren’t the target market here. They are just the target beneficiaries.
How many places in the U.S. have the rich rail heritage that PA does? - not many; but again it is not about that. it is economic.
Jason you said one important word in that last post that really stood out… VISION.
Who thought putting money into fixing some rails in the first two miles and charging $5 a seat would get them out of the debt problem? Alex nailed it, no vision.
While I can’t speak for all my neighbors, I can say my family has been to all the places you’ve named and are members at many, including the Strasburg RR. Our hometown is 3,000 away, but we are interested in history and do seek it out every where we go. You don’t need a working railroad track to teach history. It’s not like railroads are obsolete. They’re still used today. We’ve taken family vacations on them. If we all preserve every single thing used in history, there isn’t room for the present and future.
24 doesn’t have sidewalks (for the most part and the existing sidewalks are in poor repair, especially lately) and drivers don’t seem keen on learning about the rights of pedestrians. I have no idea about the College Ave to Felton, but I’m excited to learn more.
Perhaps Stewartstown’s trains can be added to Strasburg, or incorporated into interactive exhibits along a biking/walking trail in their honor. I don’t know. But I think it’s safe to say the idea of Stewartstown RR being returned to its former glory with working tracks is slim to none. Haven’t people been trying for a few decades? Maybe it’s time to move in a different direction. I know more about the railroads in New Freedom, Baltimore and Strasburg than I do about Stewartstown’s despite being here for 10 years and having a train loving son so perhaps it’s time to get the information out there in a different format that’s a bit more relevant in today’s world.
If you think a rail-trail would be a good use for the Stewartstown Railroad, contact the York County Commissioners, the Mayor and Borough Council in Stewartstown, and any other elected official you can think of and urge them to rail bank the corridor and apply for provisional trail use. Personally I think a trail that connected to the Heritage Rail Trail in New Freedom would be an excellent idea, and might spur some other business activity in Stewartstown. The York County rail-trail authority is very interested in seeing this accomplished. I don’t think it is very likely that we’ll ever see a train operating again on the Stewartstown line. I admire them for their tenacity, but I believe a trail would be a more realistic use now.
Cheers.
wonder how many miles of track they would have to scrap to make the money they need to pay off the debt. maybe they could scrap some of the tracks and keep the rest.
A rail trail would be awesome. I can’t think of a better way to use the space than a trail that leads to a historically set Ice Cream shop run by Summers. Perfection.
Yesterday I saw a vision of what Stewartstown railroad station could look like! Attached are a couple pics of Whistle Stop restaurant in Centre Hall PA.
A little restaurant / coffeeshop / trinket shop would be cool. Not sure if it’s economically viable, but it stands a better shot than the train rides!
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