Re: WM Scenic problems

The bicycle cartel has a 'manifest destiny' thing going here in that they are hell bent to get from Geogetown to Pittsburgh via bicycle. There is already another lineal path that could be used to get from #9 switch in Frostburg to Cumberland and it is known as the C&P right-of-way. The thing is, the trail people know that a) the State of Maryland is broke; no one is going to fund and go through the trouble of consolidating the C&P ROW, b) government already owns the continuous WMSR right-of-way, c) the present Secty of Transportation in Maryland has already shown disinterest in commuter rail and the State freight rail system, so the bikers know WMSR will not get help there, d)it is fairly difficult to prove the 400,000 or so annual users up front, and if they are proven wrong later, so what they got their way. (I know of another rail trail park that legitimately states their numbers; but after having spent three weeks on that property on another project, I know those counts also include a large number of locals who are taking their daily "constitutional" cause its safer than a walk down the highway shoulder; these people are not leaving additional discretionary funds in the local shop's tills.)
Look, railroading is important enough tourism in Cumberland that the downtown Holiday Inn has advertised in the national railfan press their "trackside rooms".
Steve