Conway Scenic Railroad (CSRX) discussion thread

[John Smythe]

Hi Mike,

I've seen this type of locomotive(s) with a caboose, nothing else on Conrail lines, segments that were officially up for abandonment, a " ICC " / " FRA " official would ride along with RR reps in the caboose & do a sort of show & tell why a certain line was no longer needed to be in service. The Conrail consists I have observed back in the 1980's would have the people standing outside looking around down at the tracks, ties, crossing signals, etc, as the train poked along about 10 MPH. A good friend of mine who used to work for Conrail explained the process to me & I hope others this information is of help to others.

[Mikejf]

I do believe there were cars with them, just don't remember what had.

[flyingfox10]

For the brochures, all they say is event dates. Schedules are not determined until they can figure out the expected equipment for the weekend.

Also a steam powered freight would be neat, however would NOT make any money. Why you ask? Because 90% of everyone reading this would rather chase than be on the train. This is why railfan events seldom make money. Only places that are able to do well are the ones with completely isolated and private property.

[Dick H]

On the Conway Scenic Facebook page, a question was asked if the Wheel Report would be returning.
The answer from the CSRX (presumably management) was "probably not? .

[Arborwayfan]

If people really wanted to see a steam powered freight they could find out the cost, gather pledges of money, and then say "we will pay you $x thousand to run a steam freight". Somehow I doubt the pledges would cover a very long trip. Steam freight to Intervale?

[Cosmo]

Ever heard of Lerro Charters?

[b&m 1566]

A production company did charter a freight train pulled by 7470 around new years day, must have been about 7 years ago now. If my memory is correct, that same year, they also had the MBRRE Steam in the Snow Special and the a honorary Ski Trains in conjunction with Cranmore Mt. I believe skiers got discount lift tickets with the purchase of a train ticket.

[John Smythe]

I'm going to attempt to upload 3 pages from a 2002 470 Railroad Club 50TH Anniversary publication that was written by the (late) Matt Rines, Club Trustee & MEC #501 Project Supervisor. This covers a lot of ground.

[b&m 1566]

I just saw pictures of Pinkham Notch with plowable snow, did todays notch train operate through a snow covered Crawford Notch?

[John Smythe]

Sorry, I made a typo error regarding the 50TH Anniversary Booklet put out by The 470 RR Club in 2004, not 2002 as I had written a couple of posts ago.

[Cosmo]

Aside from that brief mention in TRAINS magazine, has anyone else heard anything about restoring the 501 to operating?

[backroadrails]

According to a comment made by Bill Willis on the 470 Club Facebook page Conway is looking at having it running by 2023, but the 7470 and 4268 come first.

[Cosmo]

Cool!
Thanks

[John Smythe]

That's correct. First things to finish is preparing #7470 for 2019, same for B&M #4268. New railfan & steam locomotive friendly ownership of CSRX can be counted on to do many things much differently now than in the past. New hires to fill job positions in the roundhouse is just one of them. One thing is very certain, costs in labor & materials have risen dramatically since the year 1999. New FRA codes which took effect in 2000 dramatically changed what needed to be done to bring #501 into compliance.

Placing MEC #501 over by the entrance will surely rekindle more enthusiasm than leaving her parked over in the far reaches of the yard. The who, what, when, where, how questions are next. I'm positive that come next year things will start to percolate regarding many issues facing #501 restoration.

[gokeefe]

When exactly did CSRX come out and say they were considering a mechanical restoration of #501?