JIM THORPE, Pa. — The borough of Jim Thorpe and its school district have dropped their lawsuit against the Reading & Northern Railroad, and are holding discussions with the railroad about bringing the R&N’s Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway back to town.
BRC-13 TV reports that the borough and railroad have held two meetings with a goal of the railroad resuming operations from Jim Thorpe in 2020.
The Lehigh Gorge announced in October it would shut down as of Nov. 25, the result of the suit over what the borough and school district said were more than $95,000 in unpaid amusement taxes on ticket sales. [See “Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway to cease operations,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 16, 2019.] The railroad contended it was not an amusement and therefore not subject to the tax.
Just two days later, parent R&N announced a series of alternate locations for holiday train operations originally planned for Jim Thorpe. [See “Reading & Northern announces new Santa Train plans,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 18, 2019.]
Borough council president Greg Strubinger told the TV station that the borough had decided to “drop the litigation without prejudice,” although it could reopen the suit if the two sides fail to reach an agreement. Whether the borough still tries to collect the money remains to be seen; Strubinger said one purpose of the discussions was “to voice our concerns with some of the financial restraints and constraints we have.”
Michael Rivkin, interim president of the Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency, said the agency was “thrilled” the two sides were talking and applauded the borough’s “concession to show its good-faith effort to try to resolve the situation.”
I have visited Jim Thorpe several times and the railroad is one of their key attractions. The town makes money on a parking lot near the station. I guess someone figured out they will most likely loose more revenue in lower parking fees than the disputed tax would raise. As stated by others the Reading and Northern runs a first class passenger operation and has several other options to run passenger trains. If they feel welcome and can do good business at other locations Jim Thorpe not the railroad is the loser.
If Reading & Northern thinks Mauch Chunk won’t be back to to try raiding their income, perhaps they will he interested in building the high speed passenger line to the oceanfront resort in Wyoming…
Unless you walk, ride a bike, or go down the river in a rubber raft, the train is the only way to see the gorge. When I rode the bike train most of the people who rode both ways were either elderly or had young children with them. If the railroad wanted to there are a number of other towns that they could start their excursions from, especially when they complete the connection to the former CNJ branch to Nesquehoning. Then they could rip up the tracks into Jim Thorpe.
I rode the bike train to White Haven two weeks ago and stuck around town for a while. All 3 of the other trains were full. The town charges $10 a car to park on weekends and the lot was full all day long. There may have been 6 people working at the lot. I’m sure they made a nice penny that one day.
OK, this is a good start. Let’s see what happens.
I would suspect, based on most localities and local governments that I’m familiar with, that most of these
“politicians” are actually business people most the day and should be bashed as such as much as being bashed as politicians.
Just a ploy to get them to stay and the borough can realize the income from the tourists. They will be back to get that tax money next year. Move now!
I thought one of the city fathers stated the loss would not be felt?
The mentality is that the railroads are huge and nobody works for the railroad as a whole. Thus raising railroad taxes have always been very popular with the government. Just like tourist taxes, it’s easier when someone else is expected to pay. Even if in reality everyone pays, the mentality remains.
i may be misunderstanding this but. when they say they are haveing these talks because of financial restraints and constraints. thats for the city right? cause if thats correct. that is not the railroads problem. they are there for thier customers. the passanger service is a seconady. they DO NOT have to be there or provide passanger service. they do so because they want to and realize how a positive impact it brings. that being said… i may have read that wrong. and if i did… i am sorry.
You can’t run a railroad without making money doing so. It is very hard to make money in the railroad business. Why do theses towns and counties think there is giant profits in what these railroads are doing? Ulster County tore up 12 miles of Catskill Mt. RR, Warren county wants to challenge the last operator that was interested in S&NC. Lake Placid want to let the state rip up 34 miles of railroad. Now it Maugh Chunk, PA thinking they can raid the cookie jar. Glad someone showed them the way things will be. Let their town residences pay for their own school taxes just like every other town What a rip off.
It appears that someone with some authority in JimThorpe realized the financial loss the town would suffer when thousands of tourists vanished overnight…duh, no brainier from the beginning….exactly what were they thinking???
Michael Moss
You appear to be forgetting one important factor here, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic RR is not just some tourist railroad…it’s a part of a common carrier freight operation that already exits, the line is going nowhere whether it exists or not, the freights will still traverse it. Also, it provides and easier way for more people to view the scenic Lehigh Gorge than does other options, such as buses or driving your own car. I honestly don’t care if you’ve been there before or not, nor does it matter if I’ve ever been there, it’s a proven fact that the income generated by the tourists(not railfans, but regular tourists) will far exceed anything these cities/counties can get from something like a trail or individual travelers. This country is leaning heavily towards becoming a services based economy, and you need something to bring in those outside people to give the services something to do, otherwise the town/county/state will just stagnate. If you lived in an area with a tourist train you might think otherwise and be more vocal against removal, you remove it and the rail lines and you’ve killed any potential future industrial growth as well.
As for this quote of yours: “Again, everything has a cost, whether you admit it or not.”, that’s not true, not everything has a cost, and even if it did, does the benefit outweigh the cost. In this case the benefit of the LGSRR far outweighed any costs to the municipality and people of Jim Thorpe/Mauch Chunk, and there are/were plenty of other cities willing to host the railroad and cut Jim Thorpe out of any revenues generated by the thousands of people that ride it every year.
Drop the lawsuit with prejudice and then there will be something to talk about. Otherwise no dice.
The above comments 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. For never was there a tale of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
The town of Jim Thope has been around for 200 years, and has survived the coal mining bust and the attempt to remove Jim Thorpe’s remains. The town was on tourist’s radar long before the Lehigh Gorge Scenic RR. But now a poster who has never been there is sure the tourist rail operation is necessary for their survival (I have been there a couple of times). It has been noted that a number of tourist lines in the region have been booted out by the locals. Tourists lines need to engage with their locals, or they will likely suffer the fate of the aforementioned lines. Another hundred years from now, Jim Thorpe will still be there, and the tourist line will just be a footnote in history. Ride the lines, and be thankful while they are still here.
While we’re on the subject of taxes and soaking the out-of-towners, I just looked at an ABQ rental car receipt. The rental car charges for two days were $119.87…the taxes, facility and environmental impact fees, license charges, and vehicle disposal charges were $41.99.
BOHICA.
Once again, a government entity has been taught a lesson about messing with a railroad. Even a small one!
I’d like to direct readers to Barton Jennings’ insightful comment below. My fellow Tennessean speaks from extensive experience in the Volunteer State — where there is no state income tax.
A number of years ago, an ex-wife who was a BOS-based Delta Flight Attendant saw her standard of living jump enormously when she moved to my Volunteer State home and changed her residency from Massachusetts to Tennessee. Gone were Tax-achusettes’ levies for income (~ 4.5%), utility district (0.77%), sanitation district (0.something), and metropolitan district government (about 0.50%). The move came just before she was to be charged another 0.25% levy to pay for The Big Dig.
The entire Big Dig project had a cost overrun of 190%. There are lessons here for discussions about California high speed rail, NY rail tunnels, and anything else government undertakes.
This has been an interesting story of the railroad calling the town’s bluff, with a completely predictable outcome…the town cried uncle. If the town council had just waived the railroad’s excessive amusement tax bill to begin with, they would still be in the driver’s seat. Now, in order to get the railroad back, they will have to give them whatever they want, no questions asked, now and in the future. And, if I were the railroad operator, I would really go full tilt with it and not cave one bit…the railroad really doesn’t need Jim Thorpe to succeed (although I’m sure they WANT to be there, just without the baggage), but its 100% obvious that Jim Thorpe does need the railroad to succeed. There are many very successful tourist railroads in far more remote areas than that…heck I can think of a 1/2 dozen right off the top of my head…and the railroads do just fine without a town full of gift shops, restaurants and hotels built up around them. Now, 75 years ago, when downtowns were the place to be and all the necessities were there and there were not big box retailers elsewhere that everyone did their “real” shopping at, this would have been a completely different story. But, without ever even having set foot in Jim Thorpe myself, I’m betting there are very few stores there that really sell the “necessities” that could sustain themselves long term without a bigger draw, and that railroad is their draw…and, essentially, catering to the railroad’s customers are most or all of their entire business. And, now in Jim Thorpe, the railroad is in the driver’s seat, and its the town council’s own fault…they cut their nose off to spite their face. They will never collect a dollar of that tax one way or the other, now or in the future. Either they will waive the whole thing for infinity, or the railroad is going to stay gone!
Again, everything has a cost, whether you admit it or not.
I haven’t heard or read anything that indicated the trains coming to Jim Thorpe caused any burdens to the town as far as police and EMT protection was concerned, or traffic for that matter. The question was raised on the “Trains Forum” and no-one said that was the case. Indeed, the trains benefited the town by bringing in money-spending passengers.
From day one the whole thing smacked of a sleazy money-grab by the town government.
Everything has a cost. The borough decided that the extra traffic and people brought in by the railroad strained their facilities and wanted compensation. R&N might find another borough that would forgo the added tax, but a ride from nowhere would be less popular, and the people who do come would cause uncompensated wear on their infrastructure.
Always amazing to see how governments don’t realize that companies and residents can leave. The same thing has happened with a number of businesses and manufacturing plants across the country, higher taxes, more regulations, etc., have basically run them off to better places.
Money grab by stupid people. The tax revenue generated by the train far exceeds what the politicians want.