Is Another ADK Rail Trail Possible?
The Saratoga Springs north to Tahawus rail corridor has potential.
By Phil Brown
Cyclists are champing at the bit to ride the Adirondack Rail Trail in the Lake Placid region, but there are other prospects for off-road bike touring in the Adirondacks.
I’m thinking of the 90-mile rail corridor that runs from Saratoga Springs north to Tahawus.
If this were converted to a rail trail, you could hop on your bike in Saratoga and cycle 170 miles to Lake Placid, the entire way on rail trails or highways with wide shoulders. What a great way to travel between two tourist destinations.
To top it off, if you pedaled another 34 miles from Lake Placid to Westport, you could take an Amtrak train back to Saratoga, closing the loop.
Pie in the sky? Not entirely, but things are complicated.
The Saratoga-Tahawus line is divided into three sections. The town of Corinth owns the southernmost portion, the 20 miles from Saratoga Springs to Hadley. Warren County owns the 40 miles from Hadley to North Creek. The Saratoga & North Creek Railway owns an easement on the final 30 miles to Tahawus.
The last section holds the most promise for cyclists. The S&NC failed to commercialize the line and filed for bankruptcy. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to declare the line abandoned, the first step toward creation of a recreational trail.
The Open Space Institute has offered to buy the corridor for $1.5 million. The non-profit group would keep the tracks in place for at least three years, but there is little hope that the long-dormant rail line would see a revival. Rather, the expectation is that the corridor would be turned over to the state and the tracks would be removed to create a recreational trail.
William A. Brandt Jr., the railroad’s bankruptcy trustee, has rejected OSI’s bid and seeks instead to auction off the line. In papers filed with the Surface Transportation Board, he asserts that “at least two other parties” have expressed interest in purchasing the railroad. He did not identify the parties.
State officials doubt that the rail line has a viable future. It has not been used to carry freight since the 1980s, when NL Industries closed its mine in Tahawus.
A spokesman for the Surface Transportation Board said he couldn’t predict when the board will rule on DEC’s petition for “adverse abandonment” of the line. In January, the board rejected Brandt’s request to dismiss the petition. However, it has yet to rule on the merits of DEC’s position.
Warren County and Corinth had leased their sections of the rail corridor to S&NC for a tourist train, but the venture sputtered out after several years. In 2019, Warren County adopted a resolution in favor of commencing “abandonment proceedings [that] will allow the County to move forward with alternative uses of the rail corridor which may include recreational uses.” It will need to seek STB approval before abandoning the rail line.
Corinth is still trying to attract commercial users of its portion of the line. “Right now there is more than one party interested in using the rail for rail travel,” Corinth Supervisor Richard Lucia said in an email. He did not elaborate.
In short, it’s not certain that all or even any of the 90-mile corridor will be converted into a recreational trail. Nor is it certain that a recreational trail would be surfaced to accommodate touring bikes. The trail’s design would be decided by DEC and other stakeholders.
Another wrinkle is that on parts of the corridor a tourism company called Revolution Rail offers rail-bike rides that run on the tracks. Claudia Braymer, a Warren County supervisor from Glens Falls, thinks it may be possible for the rail-bike operation to co-exist with a rail trail. In this scenario, the trail would be built alongside the rail-bike tracks or leave the corridor when necessary to go around them.
Despite these obstacles, the potential for a long-distance rail trail traversing the heart of the Adirondack Park is real. So imagining what might be is not idle fantasy. Here’s one possible itinerary (distances are approximate):
Day 1, 60 miles: Starting in Saratoga Springs, ride north on the rail trail to the Adirondack foothills; cross the Sacandaga River and cycle along the Hudson River to North Creek.
Day 2, 50 miles: Continue cycling north on the rail trail along the Hudson; cross the river and begin paralleling the Boreas River. Leave the trail a few miles south of Tahawus and pedal east along Route 28N to Long Lake.
Day 3, 58 miles: Cycle north on Route 30 to Tupper Lake, then go a few miles on Route 3 west to the Adirondack Rail Trail. Follow the rail trail 34 miles to Lake Placid.
Day 4, 34 miles (optional): Cycle south on Route 73 through Cascade Pass to Keene, then take Route 9N to Elizabethtown and continue to the Amtrak depot in Westport. Take the train back to Saratoga Springs.
Of course, the itinerary could be modified to make the daily rides shorter or longer.
Incidentally, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation told BikeADK that “carry-on bicycles will be welcomed” when the Adirondack train resumes service, presumably this year (it has been suspended because of the pandemic).
Now we just need to get to work on those rail trails.
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