Bartlett has a town ordinance that prohibits the sale of railroad tickets for revenue????
gokeefe
Railroad Forums
Conway Scenic Railroad (CSRX) discussion thread
- Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
It's towards any company or establishment. Hartmann's in Intervale wasn't allowed to sell tickets for his train ride. He found a way around it by making you buy certain items that were "overpriced", like key chains and such, that's how you got to ride his train. I believe it's the towns way of keeping the town small, quiet and just a "passing through" town.
It takes real skill to choke on air, fall up the stairs and trip over nothing. I have those skills.
That sounds like a federal preemption case to me all day long. Nice of the railroad not to take this up with the STB. Just leave it alone and play nice.
gokeefe
Yeah, I'll let someone with better knowledge explain the terminology on it, I just know something along those lines exist in the town. As for the Conway Scenic being exempt under local ordnances per federal law, I'm sure they probably are but do you really want to see the railroad go down that path? I certainly don't, there seems to be a nice harmony going on with the railroad and the towns, why ruffle the feathers.
It takes real skill to choke on air, fall up the stairs and trip over nothing. I have those skills.
p42thedowneaster wrote:Perhaps the new relationship with Attitash Mountain could spur some sort of new event (like a Music festival, Oktoberfest, pumpkin launching, etc...) to be held in the nearly forogotten fields of Attitash.Or, to that point, stop at Rogers Crossing or Bartlett or the White Mountain cider company or the crossing and/or station at Glen Ellis
I remember back in the 90s they had a large equine festival that drew fairly large crowds. A shuttle train from North Conway or even just from the Attitash parking lots and Grand Summit Hotel would be easy to implement.
With online ticket sales and wireless point of sale devices you can really pick up people anywhere they're at. You could even have people start an excursion from the fields.
"Kearsarge has 200-300 parking spots"
-No it does not. By the railroad tracks you can get about 20-30 vehicles in there, and the parking lot by main street can hold maybe 100 cars but that depends on how full it is from other people using it to walk around town.
In regards to track requirements, the track has to meet at least class 1 standards for any kind of passenger train, rather it is a budd car or full passenger train. Also a budd car ways as much as one of the first generation diesels if not a little more.
-No it does not. By the railroad tracks you can get about 20-30 vehicles in there, and the parking lot by main street can hold maybe 100 cars but that depends on how full it is from other people using it to walk around town.
In regards to track requirements, the track has to meet at least class 1 standards for any kind of passenger train, rather it is a budd car or full passenger train. Also a budd car ways as much as one of the first generation diesels if not a little more.
No such law exists. Hartmanns was unable to sell tickets because if they did they would be deemed an amusement park ride, and as such would follow under amusement park laws and regulations for the town which would result in a higher insurance price.
Also in order for rehabilitation to happen, both the railroad and the state(s) that own the tracks would want regular service to make a return on their investment. Certainly would not make any sense to spend $15 million just to use the tracks 8 days a year. It would take you 40 years at 8 days per year to pay that off, and that is not counting fuel fpr the train or train crew. You guys do not seem to understand the kind of money runnimg a train involves. Just for simple math it costs around $100,000 per month to run the valley train on the full schedule. That covers payroll for the 5 man crew, and fuel for the engine. I dont really onow how much fuel the generator uses so that is not figured in. Now add in your other expenses, track crew, shop crew, station help, reservations, etc and now you are looking at another $50,000 per month. Add the summer notch train expense into the equation and you are looking at another $70,000 a month. That puts the monthly debt at $220,000.
If you add steam to the mix, it costs $2,000/day each day it runs.
All the above figures are simple estimates. $4/gallon of fuel, average employee wage of $9/hour, etc. The wages may vary as I have heard some really great things about the new owner.
Right now they are being very smart, and trying to improve the existing operation with things like the stop at Attitash, which will be a great way to bring in some extra riders.
If you add steam to the mix, it costs $2,000/day each day it runs.
All the above figures are simple estimates. $4/gallon of fuel, average employee wage of $9/hour, etc. The wages may vary as I have heard some really great things about the new owner.
Right now they are being very smart, and trying to improve the existing operation with things like the stop at Attitash, which will be a great way to bring in some extra riders.
Why do they not run down the Kearsage branch more often?
It is a pain to take a train down it, but the budd car is ideal because it is like having an engine on each end. Also every crossing has to be flagged, which means a lot of flaggers, or stopping at each crossing. Not exactly a passenger friendly set up, nor very cost effective for small passenger counts. There are days and operations that it works well for, but not for the normal operation.
What do you guys think the railfans weekend schedule will be?
What's the Kearsage branch?
A couple of seconds after the train goes across the first crossing of Routes 16/302 enroute to Bartlett, the train traverses a switch. This is what they call Mountain Junction. The Kearsage Branch is that other stretch of track that is joined. Conway has rights to as far as a bridge that goes over a waterway (I forget which one) The track actually goes all the way to Maine. It’s not used that much. If you want to see it used, your best chance is to go to Railfans Weekend. It’s directly across from the main terminal.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by MEC407 on Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: unnecessary quoting
Why do they only have one person (the engineer) in engines like 573 and 1751 and two in 4266? Makes no sense if you ask me. They should have one person in 4266 and two in 573 and 1751
In the 573 and the 1751, the engineer can see in both directions. 4266 you need someone to act as your eyes while you reverse.