PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern has announced new plans for Santa Train operations at locations across the rail line, just two days after announcing it would shut down its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway operation as a result of a dispute with the borough of Jim Thorpe, Pa.
A a number of communities asked to be considered to host trains, the railroad said in a press release, but it elected to focus on communities with existing facilities, but indicated it will consider additional communities in 2020.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received this week and it has made us realize that there are communities and people who love the railroad as much as we do,” Reading & Northern owner and CEO Andy Muller Jr. said in the press release. “Our Santa Train schedule for 2019 is an effort to bring joy to as many families as possible this year while making sure our loyal employees also have a great holiday season.”
The Reading & Northern said on Wednesday that it would shut down its operation in Jim Thorpe, where a collection agency had filed suit on behalf of the borough and local school district, saying the railroad owed almost $100,000 in back taxes for an unpaid amusement tax. [See “Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway to cease operations,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 16, 2019.] The railroad says it is not an amusement and not subject to the tax.
Jim Thorpe’s mayor, Michael Sofranko, said the borough was “blindsided” by the move to close the railroad and told the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call that the train rides were subject to the tax because they were round-trip scenic excursions, not station-to-station transportation. “You go out and you come back,” he said. “It’s an amusement.” He also said the borough had been trying to meet with Muller for weeks to work out an agreement.
State Rep. Doyle Heffley, whose district includes the borough, told the paper in a statement that he was concerned “how losing the railway impacts our regional economy” and that his office would work “to try to bring all parties together to find a solution to the issues involved so we can keep the trains running in Jim Thorpe for many more years to come.”
In the meantime, Reading & Northern — which previously announced cancellation of its Santa Trains at Jim Thorpe — plans to operate Santa Trains from five locations this year:
Reading Outer Station: Nov. 30; Dec. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, and 24.
Minersville Station: Nov. 30, Dec. 1.
Schuylkill Haven Station: Dec. 7-8.
Tunkhannock: Dec. 14-15.
Pottsville Union Station: Dec. 21-22.
Trains will depart at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. at each location and offer a round trip of 70 to 80 minutes. Ticket are $15 for adults and $9 for children ages 3-12; children 2 and under are free. Rides will feature holiday music, free candy, and a visit from Santa Claus.
Advance tickets and more information are available by calling the Reading & Northern passenger office: (610) 562-2102. Tickets will also be sold on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of each trip.
Anna,
I’d like your opinion on why you think there’ll be litigation? Certainly not for Muller shutting down his operation and moving it, that’s his option. For non-payment of back taxes? Taxes they never collected from passengers as this was specifically mentioned as a “pass-through” tax? I don’t think that would fly either.
As for the Mayor, I think he needs to return to school and learn what an “amusement” really is, also, from what I recall reading not everyone that used(already putting in past tense) the Lehigh Gorge did so on an out and back manner, as there where some trips that originated outside of the area and brought people in to Jim Thorpe, who then may have spend some time(and money there) before leaving. I don’t think the Reading & Northern is considered an amusement by their customers either.
Mr. Pinckney, I enjoyed your comments, particularly the snappy opening two sentences. Well said.
Politicians are like diapers (nappies to our U.K. friends) in that they need to changed often and for the same reason. Politicians also need to have ophthalmological treatment more frequently than the general population because of a condition known as “shortsightedness”. In this case, the politicians of Mauch Chunk are only seeing the “amusement” tax and not the “Keynesian Money Multiplier Effect” of the sales and income taxes created by patrons of the Lehigh Gorge trains. When the local businesses either move or go Chapter 7, maybe… just maybe the politicians will see the error of their greed, But, that’s unlikely. And, would be too late anyway. The leaders of Mauch Chunk would be well advised to visit another railroad town to see their possible future: Glenrio, Texas…
In my hometown of Knoxville, in the feverish run-up to the 1982 Worlds Fair, politically-powerful event planners wanted to relocate 4 miles of the Southern Railway’s Knoxville-Maryville line. The railroad ran through the middle of the proposed Fair site en route to the sprawling ALCOA aluminum company rolling mill in Alcoa (TN).
They allocated all of $4,000,000 (in 1977 dollars) to build 9 miles of new railroad. The project included a bridge over the Holston River.
Until the event promoters met the Southern Railway, they had pretty much gotten their way with every request for local tax bond issues, federal grants, property condemnation, business relocation, highway construction, road closures, etc.
I wish I had been a fly on the wall during the Atlanta meeting.
To this day, NS tracks still run through the Worlds Fair park site.
Every now and again, local politicos learn that they are not all-powerful.
“Jim Thorpe’s mayor, Michael Sofranko, said the borough was “blindsided” by the move to close the railroad….” Did Mr. Sofranko expect the railroad would respond to the lawsuit by quietly writing a check? How much discussion had the borough and school district had with the railroad prior to the suit being filed? I see the mayor’s comment s political ‘damage control’.
I could formulate a defensible argument for either side of this tort. It will be interesting to watch the litigation, and mind you, the decision will have consequences.
The above remarks are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Modown stops sprangletop in rice.
If you are a typical tourist railroad with only a few miles (or tens of miles) of track to run over, you pretty much have to put up with local politics — whatever rules, regulations, taxes, etc. the local government bodies choose to impose. And if the local politicos don’t recognize the benefits you bring to the local economy, too bad for you (and ultimately them). One can find numerous examples (not just involving railroads) where local governments learned belatedly that their greed had killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.
But fortunately, the Reading & Northern is not in this position. They operate a successful freight business over several hundred miles of route. Thus they are not limited to one specific location for their passenger excursions. If some community decides to impose rules or taxes that they find onerous (and it’s their decision alone as to what they will or will not accept), why stay where your impact on the local economy is not appreciated? There will be plenty of other places along your line where you will be welcomed.
I say “bravo” to Andy Muller. Let Jim Thorpe stew in its own juices when they find out what they have lost.
Amazing guy – Old Santa is scheduled to be in two places at the same time on more than one occasion.
Sounds like a holdup, to me. If I were the railroad president, I’d have done the same thing. I hope the state representative can help mediate.