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Three weeks back, Frank Jorgenson of railroad fame made a jaw dropping announcement on vehicles using the ERTS trail. He said, during a Elk River Trail Foundation meeting, in the Queen Shoals and Camp Creek areas, property owners along the trail would be granted vehicle access to the trail. Gulp!

Since the beginning of time, in print and by voice, the word had always been, vehicles on railroad rights of way were NOT permitted. No way Jose.

Within a couple days of that announcement, trucks, cars, motorbikes, ATV’s of all shades were on the trail (all over the place) having a big time. There was also the one that was stolen with the windows broke out and trash strewn all about blocking ERTS just South of Ivydale.

We speculated, if vehicles are allowed in those just mentioned areas, why not everywhere on the trail? One lady told us, she owns property on the upper end of ERTS and she might want to ride her four wheeler all the way to Dundon for the heck of it.

ERTS went to H in short order.
During the August 11^th County Commission meeting, the BDA’s Mitch DeBoard was on hand to provide an update and answer questions. Oh Boy Oh Boy

Mitch explained, property owners in those two areas CAN drive on the rights of way. He added, that part of the trail is NOT part of the official State Park yet, that, those two areas are still railroad owned and not “abandoned”

With people scratching their head, Commissioner Fran King read the official State Park announcement given by Gov Justice a couple weeks back that proclaimed the new State Park was official and seemed to dispute the words of DeBoard.

DeBoard repeated himself and added, ERTS State Park is only from Hartland to Duck. Everything else is not in the park system yet. And, those areas outside the Park have not been leased (purchased) by the state yet....

Fran King: I think that’s discrimination, I own a house along the old tracks in Ivydale and I want to ride my side by side up there! The Gov announced it.

Those answers opened up a whole new can of worms. Is the issue settled? Nope.
Like, those peed off land owners can continue to use ERTS as their private roadway but, will that still be the case when the State takes ownership of the strip of rights of way and turns it into a part of the Park? Was the Jorgenson announcement just a carrot on a string to slow down the lawsuits by various landowners?

Getting away from that hot button topic, DeBoard announced that the new full time ERT Park Superintendent had been hired but the State would not release his name yet.

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On other parts of ERTS, there are problems. For instance, in the Elkhurst area, junk cars, trash piles line the hiking, biking, horseback riding trail. The pic below shows one vehicle parked a few feet off the trail and certainly on the rights of way.

CTW Contracting is in high gear on the rail and trail spur line of ERTS. Here, two workers are removing the pavement that covers the rails on the main road. Behind them is the Cressmont trestle. Notice the wooden walk on top of the rails, it has been removed.

Last week CTW crews moved in heavy equipment preparing for upgrading the rail and adding a hiking trail beside it.

Two miles up Swandale Road, where motorists use a railroad trestle to get across Buffalo Creek, a crew has already dug out the old concrete abutments out of the creek and began construction on the "wings" that keep down erosion of the foundation.

There are two pieces of equipment on this trailer. The one on the right is used to remove old ties and then push in a new one. On the left is the big arm that brings in the new ties. Pretty neat contraptions.

Work got under way on that BC&G railroad spur line the first week in August. One of the four crews began in Dundon with brush cleaning duties. They have a little over 2 miles completed at this writing. When completed, the rails will be cleared back 16 feet on both sides making room for the track side hiking trail.
It's our understanding that the needed rail ties won't be available for three months. In the mean time CTW will be busy installing culverts, replacing, repairing, damaged bridges, and doing the just mentioned above, clearing of property.
Progress readers!
AW