Is that the former eastern approach to the Poughkeepsie bridge?

Why couldn't a preservation line come up with a sort of "rent-to-own" contract, even if it is a "$1.00 per year for a million years" (I'm exaggerating) type lease? The benefit for the public entity would be that they aren't being pushed to do something with the "rusty old track" (because it technically isn't theirs), and it would take away some of their authority to rip it up when the upscale property owners show up.

We are entering a somewhat oddball era in the way railroads deal with secondary operators.

The most recent "branch line spin-off" Norfolk Southern engaged in--turning over the Selinsgrove Industrial Track in Snyder County, Pa. to local shortline owner SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority and operator North Shore Railroad--NS insisted on selling ONLY the "operating rights" to the trackage and not the real estate or track itself. To be honest, even the JRA has no idea what all that was about (or if they know they haven't told me), only that it was a "take it or leave it" offer to let them integrate the last remaining "branch line" in that part of the state into their system before NS tried to abandon it after the coal traffic to the power plant disappeared when it was converted to gas.

I'm wondering if UP, BNSF, or CSX would even consider such a lease proposition in 2026.

I'm guessing it's because railroads have decided they're real estate businesses with a side operation in transportation.

I'd assume they don't want to give up any of the rights to the right of way. Maybe they want to lease it to Amazon or something to avoid this type of nonsense: https://stopmprp.com/

BTW, speaking of that line, in case you haven't seen it the ancient video on the S&L is available on Youtube. https://youtu.be/OeIr65-JD5k?si=cbvkeh0NM6WAuHcE

To be fair, that's the way a LOT of governments treat them, especially when it comes to real estate taxation.

I would be willing to guess that the Class 1's are being a lot more careful with regards to operating rights and such considering the stunts that Riffin has been pulling with the STB over the last 20 years. Everything was fine until he ruffled feathers and caused some big stinks regarding abandonments and operating rights agreements.

The game has changed becasuse of the new "lowest common denominator".

Ugh. That guy. Is he out of jail now?

It's an ancient 16mm FILM, not a video--and I had the privilege of having watched Clarence Weaver himself show the film in person several times, when I was a young budding railfan and lived a town away from him.

And I'm friends with the gentleman that saved all of Weaver's films and photos as well.

The L&BR is definitely a very neat little pike, the enginehouse still exists and even one of the 44-tonners is still there, and the line itself is fairly scenic, but the problem is that Lowville is out in the middle of nowhere, and neither end of the line is a major destination. Lowville is an hour north of the thruway, and the nearest major cities are Rome and Utica, neither of which are places that tourists are really headed either.

The Woodstock Land Conservancy, who has led the fight to remove the CMRR completely from the Ashokan Reservoir to Kingston, along with their allies at the Open Space Institute, have put together a website to advance their cause:

https://katrail.org/

Enjoy!

EH

Nice looking website. Not much detailed info on what they're actually doing.