Defunct, contested Adirondack rail line gets new owner

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Warren Co. railroad may host rail-bike excursions
Sun Community News
Warren County, New York - A plan to provide rail-bike excursions along the railroad from Stony Creek to Thurman and from North Creek to Moose Pond in Newcomb was presented March 28 to county supervisors.

The guided excursions would involve 15 pedal-powered recumbent four-wheeled vehicles riding atop the rails, according to Kevin Harte of Renegade Rail Riders, the new enterprise sponsoring the trips.

The trips from Stony Creek to Thurman would be conducted between Stony Creek Ranch (formerly 1,000 Acres Ranch Resort) and Thurman Station — as soon as this spring.

The low-slung rail-bikes are powered by either two riders on the tandem model or four riders on the quad version, Harte said, and the cost to ride would be about $25 per person.

Harte and another principal of Renegade were briefly employees of Rail Explorers USA of Saranac Lake, where in 2015 this latter firm introduced the rail-bike trips along the Adirondack Rail Line.

Harte predicted that the rail-bike excursions would bring 11,000 people into the area, boosting tourism — as well as creating 14 jobs.

He said that his estimates are based on the remarkable success of the Rail Explorers’ operation, which ran at 90 percent capacity — although Harte’s 11,000 rider count for the proposed Warren County enterprise is based on only 50 percent capacity.

Contacted March 29, Alex Catchpoole with Rail Explorers said Saranac Lake operation, which ran four trips per day accommodating 160 bikers total, was working at capacity nearly every day last summer. He added that his enterprise planned to double the number of rail-bikes available this year.

The two enterprises are competitors.

Renegade’s initial plans call for bikers ...

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'Rail bike' proposal turns ugly

It seemed so easy.

A group comes to Warren County wanting to use the county rail line for "rail bikes." They had experience in Saranac Lake with the business, and railway operator Saratoga & North Creek Railway was on board with the idea.

Well, within hours of this article hitting our website Monday night, the founders of the Saranac Lake company, Rail Explorers USA, were firing off angry emails to members of the county Board of Supervisors and basically every Post-Star employee whose email address they could find.

The men who pitched Warren County on the idea were no longer affiliated with the Saranac Lake operation, and were being accused of using "privileged information" to start their own business.

"It really hurt us and we felt of course very betrayed and very upset," Mary Jo Lu, CEO of Rail Explorers, wrote in an email.

The county Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee gave "conceptual approval" of the idea Monday before knowing about this kerfuffle, and what effect this business dispute will have on the Warren County proposal remains to be seen.

Queensbury at-Large Supervisor Doug Beaty said he thinks the county should put out a "request for proposals" to see which company would give the county the best opportunity at revenue.

Kevin Geraghty, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors…

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Rail Explorers makes tracks into Philly region with rail-bike excursions
Philly.com
CYCLISTS HAVE been able to ride on old rail lines since the Rails-To-Trails movement took hold in the '70s and '80s. Now there's an opportunity to bike the rails themselves with Rail Explorers, an upstate New York outfit running an eight-week pilot program on the Wilmington & Western Railroad line along Red Clay Creek in Delaware.

Rail Explorers uses rail-bikes, which resemble pedal cars. Loaded with pedalers, the quad-seat bikes can weigh as much as a small car, so they feature a robust hydraulic disc-brake system.

Getting to Delaware has been a three-year, sometimes-winding journey for Rail Explorers founders Mary-Joy Lu and Alex Catchpoole, taking them from their native Australia to New York City and upstate New York via South Korea.

They were living in New York City until several years ago, when they decided they needed a change in lifestyle. "My wife and I weren't involved in railroads or biking or tourism or anything like this previously. We actually worked in television production and filmmaking," Alex explained.

After one exhausting day at work, Mary-Joy was watching TV and was captivated by a scene in a Korean movie that featured a couple pedaling along a rail line on what looked like a recumbent bicycle. "It literally took me all of two seconds to say 'Yep ...


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Pedaling the Rail Trail in Saranac Lake | Outdoors & Recreation Seven Days

Just past noon on an overcast July weekday, a line of clacking rail cars pulled into Saranac Lake's historic Union Depot. Through much of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, this small brick terminal was a hub for 18 to 20 passenger trains that arrived daily on the Chateaugay Railroad from the east or the New York Central Railroad from the west.

More than 50 years have passed since passengers regularly rode the rails in and out of this central Adirondack town. Yet, on this day, 35 passengers waited for the dozen or so fire-engine-red cars scheduled to depart at 12:30 p.m. The vehicles were pedal-powered "rail bikes," used for touring — unlike any train cars that once traversed these tracks. The first of their kind put into commercial operation in the United States, these rail bikes are gaining popularity among people looking to experience the Adirondack wilderness in a new way.

Rail Explorers, the Saranac Lake-based tour company that owns the rail bikes, operates daily excursions on a six-mile stretch of railroad tracks. Launched in July 2015, Rail Explorers hosted 14,000 riders in its first year alone and is on track to log an additional 20,000 riders this year.

Rail Explorers offers two types of custom-built rail bikes: tandems, which can hold two passengers (for $75 per trip); and quads, which hold four riders (for $125 per trip). Guided tours leave from Union Depot every two hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., seven days a week. Two tour guides travel with the rail-bike riders, one in front and one in the rear, while flaggers drive ahead in cars to stop motorized traffic at five road crossings along the route. A chartered bus picks up riders at the terminus and returns them to Saranac Lake. It also drops off the next departing tour group, which then begins pedaling in the opposite direction.

Though Rail Explorers has gone full steam ahead with its business, its future in the Adirondacks could be derailed before long. The State of New York, which owns the tracks, has plans to rip them up as early as December to make way for a four-season, multiuse rail trail.

While I still could, I decided to climb aboard a rail bike last week and take it down the line. My guide and pedaling partner for the 90-minute trip was Katie Chodat, a senior at nearby Paul Smith's College. The Malone, N.Y., native, one of Rail Explorers' 31 seasonal employees, positioned me in the first of 12 rail bikes that would leave Saranac Lake at half past noon.

Before our departure, our guides gave the group a brief safety review and explanation of how the rail bikes work. Human-powered rail cars aren't a new idea: They date to the earliest days of railroading, when maintenance workers rode the rails on handcars or pump trolleys. Rail bikes work on the same principle, only the riders power them as though they're pedaling a recumbent bicycle.

The bike itself is open to the elements, without sides or a roof. Each rider sits in an adjustable seat, secured by a seatbelt. The two to four riders on each bike pedal the steel-wheeled contraptions simultaneously, though one rider can stop pedaling without forcing everyone else to stop, too. This feature allows young children, the elderly and the disabled to enjoy the rail bikes without having to pull their own weight.

Each rail bike is outfitted with an umbrella for protection from rain or SUN, as well as a metal basket for personal items such as keys, wallets, water bottles and cellphones, which tend to fall out of pockets that don't have zippers.

The right rear seat features a hand brake. That seat's occupant is responsible for braking and for alerting riders behind the car, via hand signals, when the car is slowing down or stopping. Bumpers in the front and rear cushion any slow-speed collisions with other bikes.

Because the rail bikes aren't connected to each other like train cars, riders have some leeway to travel at their own pace. Still, the guides try to keep the group together, both to ease road crossings and to stay on schedule. There are no sidings to allow fast riders to pass pokier ones; if one rail bike stops or dawdles, everyone to the rear must, too. For that reason, speedier riders get put in the front rail bikes, while more leisurely riders go to the rear.

Since I was positioned in the front bike, we maintained a brisk pace. We began the tour pedaling as a group, moving bumper to bumper until we crossed two roadways en route out of Saranac Lake. Once outside town, our guides instructed us to space ourselves 50 to 150 feet apart.

I was instantly struck by how easy it is to pedal a rail bike; as Chodat explained, steel wheels on steel tracks produce little friction. Though she and I were the only riders on our quad bike, which weighs 750 pounds — a tandem weighs 450 pounds — it gained momentum quickly and required little effort to keep moving. Even the uphill stretches were gentle inclines that required only modest exertion, while the long downhill runs let us coast for quite a distance at a healthy clip. Even the most out-of-shape-looking members of the tour chugged along without much difficulty.

Most of the six-mile ride traverses...

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Defunct, contested Adirondack rail line gets new owner Times Union

North Creek, NY - Revolution Rail, a North Creek rail-biking company, will purchase the defunct Saratoga and North Creek Railway for $2.7 million under an agreement filed with a federal bankruptcy court in Denver.

The filing is the latest twist in the curious saga of the Tahawus rail line, a lonesome, 30-mile spur to an old titanium mine in the town of Newcomb near the popular Upper Works trailhead to the southern High Peaks.

Barring another unusual development, it also ends a brief foray into the railroad business by a New Mexico couple operating as Doc N Duchess Railway LLC. They had announced a multimillion-dollar plan to run freight and passenger service on the line while reviving the long-closed titanium operation.

Court trustee William Brandt Jr. said the focus shifted from Doc N Duchess to Revolution Rail this month after the couple, John and Carol McLean Wright, failed to produce a required down payment on the railroad’s assets after winning an auction for them in March.

“They never showed up with any money,” said Brandt.

The railroad was built during World War II by a U.S. government desperate for titanium. The mine was owned by National Lead Co., which shut down operations at Tahawus 40 years ago. Since then, the railroad has withered, making headlines only when carriers failed to make a go of it. In 2018, it gained notoriety when the owner parked oil tankers on the line, which for a third of its length runs through the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Many conservation and recreational advocates felt the line would be best used as a rail trail, but local governments held fast to the idea that it could once again become commercially viable.

Briefly, it seemed that would be the case. The Wrights’ winning bid was $3.3 million, far more than onlookers thought the line was worth. They had also announced plans to buy the old Tahawus titanium mine and a fleet of rolling stock — including a steam engine that ran on restaurant grease — that would revive the titanium trade. They proposed harvesting other rare metals and running excursion passenger trains.

Brandt said it is not clear whether the Wrights ever had the needed financing.
“I must say there are now a number of questions on many people’s part as to whether the Wrights were ever really capable of doing what they claimed,” Brandt said in an email.

The Wrights previously said their investors are European and have been unable to move funds in a timely fashion due to Russia’s war with Ukraine and the scrutiny now afforded to large asset transfers. They also said they were caught unaware when ...


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North Country at Work: Guiding Adirondack railbike tours with Revolution Rail North Country Public Radio

At the depot in downtown North Creek, train tracks stretch out in both directions as far as the eye can see. But nowadays trains don't run here, bikes do. Molly McCarthy is a guide and Community Development Liason for Revolution Rail, a company that employs over 40 guides and has brought life to the rails. She shows me the rail bikes, which have wide, aluminum frames with big orange and yellow wheels and recumbent seats. McCarthy notes that the bikes are also equipped with "a basket on the back so you can bring snacks and water and anything you might need."

People ride the bikes on two-hour guided tours through the Adirondacks. Revolution Rail has become a major tourist attraction in North Creek, which is already a hub for outdoor adventure seekers. Since it started in 2017, over 100,000 people have come to ride the rails. McCarthy says it's "an innovative way to get people outside and using rails that are no longer being used for freight or passenger trains."

First laid in 1871, the tracks were an essential part of the town’s economy, carrying garnet, titanium, and passengers through North Creek for decades. By the 1990s, they fell out of commercial use. The tracks were then used on and off for excursion trains until Revolution Rail got started.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit just three years after its founding, Revolution Rail became even more popular as a fun activity to do while socially distant. McCarthy says that "it was a really great opportunity to get people outside during kind of a sad time when people were isolated and not able to do the things that they love."

Revolution Rail run trips heading both north and south, offering views of forests and the Hudson River. The North Bridge trip goes through the Woods and then over the river on an old trestle bridge. McCarthy says that the ...

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