As I have mentioned many times on my blog that,
besides being a cycling nut, I am also a railroad enthusiast and currently
serve as membership secretary to a historical society covering the companies
that once hauled anthracite coal to New York and Philadelphia ports. One
wouldn’t think these two interests have much to do with each other, but as
major methods of transportation around the world, you would be surprised.
I recently got into a heated discussion within a
Facebook group which focuses on a now defunct northeastern railroad whose tracks still see occasional use for the delivery of freight. There are currently
rumors circulating that this traffic may be coming to an end, and many railroad
fans were lamenting this possibility. A determining factor in this story may be
the revival of a long-dormant passenger line nearby, which was once owned by
the same defunct railroad company, and the desire of the current tenant to move freight operations away from this complicated area, but I’m just speculating.
Anyway, some unreasonable fellow, who I’ll
refer to as Mister B., somehow found this was a great opportunity to criticize what he called the
“bike lobby”. Keep in mind that while quoting him I will constantly be correcting his grammar,
punctuation, typing ability and spelling, but I suppose he was anticipating the
line being turned into a rail trail and referred to cyclists as “the greedy
S.O.B.s” who “are always looking to destroy railroads”.
I told him right off that, as a cyclist and
railfan, I found his comments stupid. His eloquent response was “Too bad, I’m
going with it”, and he provided a link to his group that rails (pun intended)
against “government handouts to the bike lobby”. I have no idea to what
handouts he is referring, but he has obviously not done his research on organizations like Rails to Trails which actually HELP preserve historic lines
through railbanking, defined by the National Trails System Act, 16 USC 1247
(d), as a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and a trail agency to
use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until a railroad might need the
corridor again for rail service.
I have read much about the legal
complications railroads face to restore service to lines that have been
abandoned. The matters get exponentially worse when the tracks are removed,
as in some cases possession can revert to adjacent landowners or perhaps the
original owners, which can involve sifting through over a hundred years of
local records. While out cycling I’ve also experienced some of the awkward
re-routing of trails due to portions of railroad right-of-way that had been reclaimed by property owners, who then understandably did not want their land cut
in half by an intervening trail.
Mr. B. also suggested I talk to the folks at Catskill Mountain and the Adirondack
Scenic Railroad, but I am very familiar with this story, which
ultra-railroad-enthusiasts absolutely love to bring up every time they want to
create an argument with someone who remotely expresses an interest in cycling,
and I don’t need to hear it anymore! I’ll leave you to catch up on some of the
facts here or elsewhere on the ‘net, but in short, it is two groups who
have battled so intensely for so long, they have both developed an
all-or-nothing attitude in attempts to foil the other side.
I explained to Mr. B. that cyclists don't help to remove successful railroad lines and that the
link he added to his ignorant group makes me think he is just another person
who believes the roads only belong to cars and that he doesn't have a sense of
alternate transportation: “You must like sitting in traffic jams and guzzling
gasoline. Maybe you believe in the magic of everlasting fossil fuels, too?”
I
wanted to reach through the screen and grab him by his chubby throat (I saw his
profile pic) when he responded with, “Bicycles are TOYS, not serious
transportation. I'd like to see you ride to work year 'round. (Bicycles) are
WORTHLESS in the snow, and in the summer, who wants to smell all that sweat.
I'll drive a Tesla or ride a train.”
Only
an arrogant, privileged American would make the Tesla comment, and not everyone
has access to a passenger railroad. Although I don’t need to commute to work, I
certainly would consider doing it by bicycle! There are plenty of people who ride
year-round, and there are many workplaces that provide shower facilities for
their bike commuters. I started getting a real sense of wasting my time and
energy on this guy, and I regretted pointing out countries like the Netherlands
and China and their reliance on bicycle transportation, because I feared he
might respond with a Trump-like attitude towards “second-rate nations”
like those!
Instead, he
informed me that he was going to suggest that I be removed from the Facebook group
and that “no avid
cyclist can EVER be a railfan. You would grab a claw bar yourself and take it
to a historic railway.” I had typed a response about enjoying bike rides along rail
lines that I would otherwise had no chance to enjoy, since passenger service had ceased there decades ago, but one of the page's administrators, who I learned was a friend of Mr. B., either just acted on his word and
didn’t even bother reading our exchange (in which I was neither vulgar or disrespectful), or has the same warped feelings about cyclists and dropped me from the group.
Not
knowing I had already gotten the boot, several members who know me well followed
up with responses supporting my point of view – one even commenting that, “My
money is on Glen Larimer outlasting Mr. B. in this group”. Sadly (sarcasm
intended), Mr. B. followed up with, “I know when I’m not wanted. You and the
bike lobby just won one,” and dropped out himself.
When I
eventually appealed to one of the moderators, one with whom I’ve had contact
several times over the years, to explain the situation, I was re-instated.
Obviously this wasn’t some life-altering outcome, but I do enjoy the vintage
photos and history I share with this group, and I certainly wasn’t going to let
a couple of misinformed “cycling grumps” ruin it for me.
On the much lighter side of things, we had a stretch of milder weather, and my shop basement shop warmed enough for me to complete the Ciocc Desinger 84 bicycle. I was able to get outside shortly before sunset, and a pretty severe temperature drop, to take some photos:
