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Jim Thorpe Borough is blaming a breakdown over terms of the settlement of an amusement tax on the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad which runs the popular service and Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway runs.
But Wayne Michel, the railroad’s president, said it’s the borough and the borough’s legal counsel’s fault for backing out of a tentative deal hammered out between the two sides over the winter to resolve the matter.
Now, the return of the service after the pandemic ends is in limbo.
Chris Barrett, president and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, said the trains are a big economic engine for the entire region.
“Tens and tens of thousands of people yearly ride the train in every season,” Barrett said. “And we hope they can come to some amicable solution if both parties sit down and talk about it because it is of great benefit not only aesthetically, and as a product, but economically for the Pocono Mountains and the town of Jim Thorpe.
He added, “Many people are employed related to it. Folks that are in shops and restaurants, they depend upon those dollars to come in day in and day out.”
Barrett said it’s not known if or when talks between the parties will resume.
Neither side is commenting beyond issuing separate online statements May 4.