SCVR66 Wrote {On Another Thread}:
===================================
>
... will this plan affect the Fillmore tourist
> trains? Cause if it does I'm immediately
> against it.
"They" shouldn't mess with
>
something that's been pretty successful
>
over the years.
SCRV66 et al -
Dave Wilkinson and I spoke this morning; the F&W DOES have a serious problem that could affect the Fillmore tourist trains. Misguided action by a regional government official could also block eventual MetroLink expansion, and wipe out the very future of the Santa Paula Branch. And no, it's not Dave's plans to someday sell his interest in the railroad and retire.
"They" apparently DO want to put the F&W out of business, tear out the rails, and build a bike path in its place. The motives behind this scheme are at present unclear, but I for one smell a rat
... See [ngdiscussion.net].
Apparently the current Director of the Transportation Commission of the County of Ventura has unilaterally decided that the Santa Paula Branch is to be sacrificed, and long-term plans for expanding MetroLink service to Santa Paula and Fillmore and perhaps eventually rebuilding the rail link from Ventura to Santa Clarita - the primary reasons the County bought the branch in the first place - are to be scuttled.
The sheer ignorance and short-sightedness of this decision is amazing! Is the Director not aware of the County of Los Angeles' egregious error in allowing the Pacific Electric system to be abandoned 60
+ years ago, and the BILLIONS of dollars now being spent to replace it?
There is NO NEED to destroy the railroad in order to build a bike path. Indeed, there has been a very attractive and popular bike path immediately alongside the railroad within the City of Fillmore for more than 20 years.
The biggest obstacle to connecting Ventura, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Santa Clarita with a bike path has always been — and still is — the opposition of the NIMBY ranchers whose orchards abut the railroad, and NOT the railroad itself.
Per Dave, there is to be a meeting between the F&W and the Transportation Commission on May 10 - Golden Spike Day, IIRC - to discuss the future of the railroad.
Stay tuned for further developments.
See [ngdiscussion.net].
- Russ Sperry
Ventura, CA
Edited 11 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2024 07:34PM by Russo Loco.
