A classic “Saturday Night Live” sketch was a commercial for a product that was a dessert topping AND a floor wax! Much like the rail trail – all things to all people, or so Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates claims. The key question is this: What will bring in the most visitors and the most tourist money for the area, rails or trails?

Trail backers claim thousands would use the trail – but fail to note most would be locals. A nice place to ride a bicycle or walk a dog is reasonable, but is it really necessary to rip out all the track between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid to make it happen?

A modest program of local trails would meet those needs without spending millions ripping out the only working rail line in the region. Trackside stretches are already in use. Local users just aren’t enough to justify spending millions more on a luxury trail. Advocates have claimed a trail will boost property values – but doesn’t that also mean raising property taxes? Oops!

ARTA claims hordes of visiting “wallets on wheels” – cyclists – will come to ride it. They cite the Virginia Creeper Trail as an example. James Falcsik took a closer look at its supposed economic impact. (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Dec. 8, 2015) Only a tiny fraction of the riders were visitors to the region; most were local. The economic benefits from the trail just weren’t there.

ARTA cites other rail trails as “proof” – without noting their circumstances: nearby major highways, large population centers, big tourist draws and so on. (Larry Roth, Enterprise, Dec. 5, 2015) Further, none of those trails was built until rail operations had ended. Nowhere has turning a working rail line into a trail been a net gain.

Trail advocates cite the economic study the state Department of Environmental Conservation used to justify the trail as creating the biggest bang for the buck, but the same study found an all-rail operation was close behind – and their preferred option, a trail all the way to Old Forge, was the worst of all. They also don’t mention the study ignored the big impact from the rail bikes, which has convinced Harrietstown to call for saving the rails.

Further, DEC completely overlooked a serious problem with the trail plan: many road crossings. Dick Beamish has compared those roads to death traps for cyclists, as in “a death-defying ride to Saranac Lake on Route 86.” (Enterprise, Dec. 3, 2015) While he may have been exaggerating for effect, crossing them is not risk free.

Trains are protected by crossing gates; rail bike users are protected by Rail Explorers staff. Who will do that for the thousands of people ARTA claims will use the trail? James Falcsik laid out all the problems with the crossings: safety issues, keeping out all-terrain vehicles, preventing trespass, vandalism, other kinds of bad behavior and serious liability issues. (Enterprise, Jan. 20, 2016)

For snowmobilers, a superhighway paid for with tax money is a really good deal. However, they would only gain a handful of days of extra use – and only if it snows. They can use the corridor now only because Adirondack Scenic Railroad maintenance for the trains made it usable for everyone else all year round. Many snowmobilers are local, too, not visitors, and their numbers have been in decline for years in any case.

Consider – winter this year has been a disaster: little snow, warm temperatures, rains that melt what snow does fall, and lakes that fail to freeze on schedule. It’s going to be a big hit to the regional economy. How would this summer be with no trains or rail bikes running to bring in visitors and their money? Those tracks are insurance against weather that fails to cooperate. Restoring the whole line to passenger service would be even more insurance. What the trains and rail bikes do is already making a difference. Removing them to gamble on an unproven trail would be a self-inflicted wound.

The word “free” gets tossed around a lot – but how free would the trail really be? It costs money to keep the corridor open; the state pays the ASR for that now. Without the ASR, the state would still need to pay, but who, and how much? No one would have to buy a ticket if the rails were gone – but who buys them now? Visitors – the people the region is trying to attract. Getting rid of the tracks isn’t going to save money; it’ll just leave a big hole in the economy.

How deep really is support for the trail? Comments in the debate suggest a number of people don’t care about the trail – just getting rid of the trains. Those complaining they’ll never ride the train through boring scenery are hardly likely to ride a trail through that same scenery. If thousands of people ever did show up to use the trail, they’d likely be aggravated about that.

There are other things about the trail that don’t add up. Many ARTA leaders have also urged creating the Bob Marshall Wilderness – a major goal of the Adirondack Council. Problem is, they can’t have a wilderness with a railroad running through it. Trail advocate plans all start with getting rid of the tracks; ARTA wants them gone all the way back to Old Forge, despite the findings against that. Is the local economy not ARTA’s main concern?

The Adirondack Council backs ripping out the tracks – curious, as it will boost snowmobile use and attract cyclists. It’s fighting Adirondack Park Agency plans to do the same in the Essex region. Could it be they think cutting off the north end of the railroad is the easiest way to get rid of the rest of the line? And what would happen to their support for snowmobilers and cyclists in that event?

A suspicious mind might wonder if the trail isn’t a bit like a Trojan horse concealing a hidden agenda – but that would be speculation. Let’s end with a positive note.

Save the rails!

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Larry Roth lives in Ravena.