I've met the enemy and...wait, it's me?

   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: