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Hopes to solve Berkshire Scenic Railway impasse alive
W. Olver's office to resolve the impasse between the Housa tonic Railroad Co. and the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum which has scuttled tourist train excursions between Lenox, Lee and Stockbridge with this summer.
"I always have hope," said state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli,canada goose livigno parka, DLenox, on Sun day. But he acknowledged that both sides are far apart after they traded accusations earlier this week about alleged safety violations through the scenic line, that has been using about seven miles from the privately owned Housatonic freight line's tracks under an easement granted towards the state Department of transportation that expired Dec. 31.
Efforts by Pignatelli assuring Sen. Benjamin Downing, DPittsfield, to create the 2 sides together failed so far. But Housatonic owner John Hanlon, during an interview using the Eagle on Thursday, left the door slightly ajar, declining to totally eliminate a settlement as he cautioned: "There's an awful lot here to be considered first."
Hanlon maintained that, based on inspection records, there has been a continuing "systemic failure" involving safety, posing "huge" liability concerns for his Housatonic line. Berkshire Scenic's counsel and spokesperson Pamela R. Green called those claims "completely, totally false." She also noted that the scenic line carries a $3 million line of liability insurance.
Green cited documents from the Federal Railroad Ad ministration, which regulates and oversees rail safety, that listed merely a minor maintenance issue last August, as well as Berkshire Scenic's own detailed inspection reports.
Their state DOT stated last week that "no evidence of continuing safety violations with Berkshire Scenic's operation continues to be given to us,doudoune canada goose pas cher."
Meanwhile, local government officials and business leaders are voicing support. During a meeting of the town's Marketing and Events Com mittee in Lenox Dale, Green outlined intends to expand the museum's onsite activities in the train station museum.
"We're here for the long run, we have been for 28 many we're not going anywhere," Green told the audience. But, she acknowledged,www.newcastlesc.ca/?paged=3, the demise of scenic train rides "does dampen our capability to attract tourism to the area and it is going to have an affect on the city."
A tritown fundraiser for the museum was proposed by Ralph Petillo, executive director of the Lenox Chamber of Commerce. Other suggestions included an organized petition drive fond of Gov. Deval Patrick and efforts to attract national media coverage.
"I do not want us to shoot ourselves in the foot by going negative," Green emphasized.
Berkshire Scenic also an nounced that it is exploring a possible publicprivate partnership with the state's De partment of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to produce "an attractive gateway" for that publiclyowned recreation areas and the museum. that is adjacent to Woods Pond and October Mountain State Forest.
The primary goal of the project is to improve visibility and physical access to the area by demolishing the "bland industrial building blocking the vista of October Mountain," based on Green. The 16,500acre preserve is the largest state forest in Massachusetts.
The industrial complex, currently headquarters of Daley Trucking until the firm relocates to Lee within the next few months, was purchased by Berkshire Scenic in 2010. The nonprofit has been awarded a $100,000 Community Pres ervation grant toward demolition from the building, but it's raising funds to repay the rest of the $345,000 mortgage on the $550,000 building purchase.
The Lenox stop has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003.
"The full architectural beauty of the station can not be appreciated," stated Berkshire Scen ic curator Jack Trowill. "Lenox Station is an important part of Lenox's history and deserves to be shown in full view using the natural splendor of October Mountain and Woods Pond behind it just because it was during the height of rail travel to the Berkshires" during the Gilded Age from the late 1860s to 1896.
Information on the museum's proposed publicprivate partnership with the state are pending, with no funding designated thus far,parajumpers jacka, however the DCR is backing the work, Green said.
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