B.C.D. 01-57

EMPLOYER DETERMINATION

Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad

JUL 0 5 2001

This is a determination of the Railroad Retirement Board concerning

the status of Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad (CCVR) as an

employer under the Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. § 231 et

seq.KRRA) and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C.

§ 351 et seq.)(RUIA).

Information concerning Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad was

provided by Mr. Bruce J. Hodges, President & Executive Director of 

CCVR. According to Mr. Hodges, CCVR is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 

the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society1 (LRHS), a 501(c)(3) notfor-profit corporation incorporated by the New York State Department

of Education. Mr. Hodges stated that on June 6, 1999, CCVR began

providing tourist passenger train service. CCVR owns sixteen miles of

rail track starting at the interchange point with the Delaware & Hudson

Railway/CP Rail, in Cooperstown Junction, New York and ending in

Cooperstown, New York. CCVR carries passengers on eight miles of the

sixteen miles from April through the first week in December. CCVR has

a volunteer crew of three and LRHS currently has four part-time

employees.

Mr. Hodges stated that sometimes LRHS staff provides services for

CCVR to maintain CCVR’s tourist passenger schedule. According to 

Mr. Hodges, CCVR did not request or obtain operating authority from

the Surface Transportation Board because it does not handle freight or

interchange with a rail carrier. However, Mr. Hodges did state that

CCVR interchanges with Delaware & Hudson Railway but only when

receiving an occasional piece of equipment for CCVR’s passenger

operations.

Section 1(a)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. § 231(a)(1)),

insofar as relevant here, defines a covered employer as:

Mr. Hodges also noted that die Leatherstocldng Railway Historical Society is also known as die

Leadierstocking Chapter of die National Railway Historical Society and die museum division is called die

Ivcadierstocking Railway Museum.
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Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad

(i) any carrier by railroad subject to the jurisdiction of the

Surface Transportation Board under Part A of subtitle IV of title

49, United States Code;

Section 1 of the RUIA contains essentially the same definition, as does

section 3231 of the Railroad Retirement Tax Act.

Section 10501 of Title 49 of the United States Code provides in pertinent

part that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has jurisdiction over

rail carrier:

. . . transportation in the United States between a

place in

(A) a State and a place in the same or

another State as part of the interstate rail

network. (49 U.S.C. § 10501(a)(2)(A)).

The evidence of record establishes that Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley

Railroad operates a seasonal passenger excursion railroad entirely

within one state. It does not operate as part of an interstate rail

network, and would not be subject to STB jurisdiction under the

provision quoted above.

The Board notes that the “interchange” between Cooperstown &

Charlotte Valley and Delaware Hudson Railway is not a service which

impacts interstate commerce. The evidence of record does not establish

that Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad is a rail carrier operating
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Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad

in interstate commerce. Therefore, the Board finds that Cooperstown &

Charlotte Valley Railroad is not an employer under the RRA and the

RUIA.

Cherry! T

V. M. Speakman, Jr.