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| Koz | Jun 19 2009, 08:45 AM |
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Here's a link to an older article when they first announced they had bought the ROW http://www.thefreemansjournal.com/2009/05/richfield-rail-bed-acquired.html Richfield Rail Bed Acquired Friday, May 1, 2009 2 Entrepreneurs Consider Options For 18.5 Mile Route By JIM KEVLIN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  RICHFIELD SPRINGS Two entrepreneurs have acquired the old 18.5-mile Richfield Springs railroad branch from Cooperstown’s Delaware Otsego Corp. The Town of Richfield men, Ben Gotfried, who was previously involved in the railroad industry, and Ron Sadlon, a dairy farmer and Gotfried’s neighbor, closed on the property April 20. The men are exploring recreational uses for the 66-foot wide strip – walking and snowmobiling – but also the possibility of enticing a narrow-guage railroad company to set up an excursion line. The newly acquired rail bed – the tracks were torn up in 1995 – begins to the west of Route 28 just south of the Village of Richfield Springs, skirts the southwestern end of the village and proceeds to South Columbia, East Winfield, West Winfield and, finally, Bridgewater, where it ends at Mapledale Road. North of Mapledale Road, the Central New York, the DO subsidiary, continues to operate freight trains today and, conceivably could be hooked into by the new enterprise. “We’re just starting our outreach now,” Gotfried said the other day as he walked along the rail bed toward Second Arch, a stone span over Mink Creek. The partners are calling their enterprise Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Valley LLC. They are organizing a tour of the property June 15, and have invited the state Department of Transportation, Herkimer and Oneida county economic development officials, and Parts & Trails New York. Gotfried envisions the rail bed as a possible means to promote tourism in northern Otsego County. He has a slide of the former terminus at Lake Street in Richfield Springs and suggests that, revived, it could serve as a powerful magnet for visitors. |
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| new owners of the rail bed · Trail Update | |
6:12 PM Nov 26
