
The Catskill Mountain Railroad took its road show to Woodstock last week, promising the town board to bring more tourists to the arts town. The plan is to have trolley-bus service from the proposed train station at Basin Road to Woodstock during peak times.
“This is not for commuter rail service,” CMRR president Ernie Hunt said. “This is for bringing tourists to bring them up here so they can get off and actually spend money up here. When we added the bus concept we realized that just having somebody come to the station and take the train doesn’t mean they’re going to spend money in Hurley or Woodstock, The bus is what allows them to come to Woodstock and spend money in Woodstock.”

The railroad proposes extending train runs into the 1.8-mile undesignated section of the county-owned former Ulster & Delaware rail corridor. The train now stops at Stony Hollow near Route 28A and reverses direction back to Kingston. The Basin Road station would be just over the Hurley town line in Woodstock.
One wouldn’t need to ride the train to use the trolley, said Hunt. People could buy tickets separately.
Trail advocates would like to use the undesignated corridor solely as a trail. Hunt believes both train and trail could use it.
The county intends to hire a consultant to crunch the numbers for the trail, the rail, and the rail-with-trail options.