Has the guy reconsidered his decision to pull the plug on 7/5, if he hasn't met his quota of ticket sales? I still think he's pulling the plug to soon, as I think most sales don't occur until later for this type of thing. The other thing is, practically, the portion of the trip to PJ, is just one short section; most of it will be operated over 25MPH trackage, some of it after dark. If it weren't so far for this speed of running, I think that more people would consider it.
Even with Amfleet equipment, unless they get serviced in both directions, somewhere between PJ and Bingo, plus both those places, given the number of hours of this trip, toilets are abpt not to be working, food and drink will be non-existent, and what is there to do on board a train, even if its on time, when its got 4 hours to go before it terminates, and its dark, with no cell coverage, or LAN capability, or hard to see, outside. If the guy had given it more thought, he might have had more success, doing what I had mentioned, and running the train in one direction to Bingo, then bussing everybody back to Boken; then, the next day, running the train from Bingo, to either Sayre on the old LV, and down to Reading or Allentown, or down the old Lackwanna, and on to Reading or Philly, depending on the length of the day he he wanted/speed of track, which would get the equipment back to Philly, where Amtrak supplied it from, and been of more interest/practical, to many more pe ople. Anybody in their right mind, doesn't want to spend 12-16 hours on a train, if everything is on time, going 25 MPH. And on time operation frequently doesn't occur on these types of trips. If there were a problem on the outbound leg, 100 miles west of PJ, its not unconceiveable, that if you couldn't get a bus ticket back from Bingo, you might have a 24 hour, no food, water, or toilet, trip from hell on your hands.
Anybody who has ever been on one of these type of 'fantrips,' has either expereinced this phenomena themselves, or knows someone else, who has. Even most reasonable railfans don't want to have to live through this type of situation. Even though the guy who has volunteered to organize it, and stick is neck out financialy, to attempt to give the railfan community a chance to 'relive the glory of the Erie Limited,' should realize that in 2004, screw ups can and do happen, with equipment, trackwork, etc, and most people don't want to live the nightmare, if 'everything goes wrong.' At the price he wanted for a ticket, I doubt there would be any refund available, in Boken, if the train became that kind of a hell ride.
Just ask anybody about the Steam trip to Reading or Harrisburg and Back, from Boken or Newark, that was opperated about 1985, or so. That was one to make you stop and think, from what I recall. And that was on Conrail's mainline, with the capacity for high speed running, with motive power available in a number of spots, had they had the ability to get Conrail to release(railfans paid extra for it), if it was ready, and available. Many people experienced that trip, and they, and many others said at that time, 'Never agian,' or 'those who forget history are condemmed to repeat it.'
In 1983, when I went to Susquehanna, with the UBoats, and Tri-State, with 40 MPH track beyond PJ in those days, it took forever to get there, and seemed longer to get back. That trip didn't get back until around 9 or 11PM. Most people started their Sunday pretty early, to make the 9AM departure in Hoboken, that morning. And what annoyed me the most on that, and other trips, was that the people who ran it, seemed to be oblivious that the trip was 2-4 hours late, and the crew needed to be changed, water needed to be refilled for the toilets, food needed to be made available, and people just wanted to get home, not retrace our morning journey, so that 'the other side of the train' could see the NYC night skyline, when we returned to Boken. That inane idea most people would have gladly sacrificed, so that the train would be 1-2 hours late into Boken, instead of the 2-4 hours late, but 'we kept our promise and did all the rare mileage we promised, like was listed on the trip flyer', mentality of the guys running the trip. Sad thing was in that case, most of the NYC skyline was obscured by buildings in Hoboken, or due to the depressed track level on the old West Shore, in Boken, where that particular train ran, so very few people saw the beautiful lights, anyway. Who cares about riding through the Erie Bergen Tunnel, at 9PM on a Sunday night, when you have work the next morning, and you've still got a 2 hour trip home, once you do get on the platform in Boken? This is among the reasons fans won't support a 2004 Erie Limited, not the need for beer, lottery tickets, and cigarettes.
I'll be quiet now. Was I 'CLEAR?'
Train Bill
