Keep Adirondack Corridor for rail use

The writer from Eagle Bay ("A better idea for the Adirondack Corridor") on Nov. 5 wants to tear up the Adirondack Railway, former Adirondack Division of the New York Central, in order to make way for recreational use of the right of way. I disagree.

For one thing, the track supports seasonal tourist trains between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid and between Utica, Thendara and Big Moose. For another, the track is not an impediment to recreational use. Snowmobilers use it all winter and, if there is a demand, a bike trail would be paved alongside the track. The corridor is surely wide enough. No, this sounds to me like the all-terrain vehicle pack in full cry.

They find the track inconvenient, or maybe they just don't like railroads. That's the way I feel about gasoline-powered toys. Maybe we'll just have to coexist. The railroad has current seasonal business and the potential for wider use. There will probably be another fuel crisis. To add a historian's case, it is one of only two surviving rail lines in the Adirondacks. Tear it up and it's gone forever. That's my case for the Department of Transportation.

Arthur L. Johnson

Potsdam