Railroad Forums 

  • 2009 Maple Festival Shuttle Trains News

  • Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.
Discussion related to New York, Susquehanna & Western operations past and present. Also includes some discussion related to Deleware Otsego owned and operated shortlines. Official web site can be found here: NYSW.COM.

Moderators: GOLDEN-ARM, NJ Vike

 #642709  by blockline4180
 
D.Carleton wrote:Quick questions: what is the status of the 3372? Is she still serviceable/blue carded? I cannot recall an occurrence of a U34 powering a set of bilevels. This may be the first and last opportunity to do so.

She was serviceable back in 2003-2005... Jimmy wilson would start her up every now and then. i don't know the status since then, but I'm pretty sure the engine hasw been capped down in Passaic, NJ... URHS still owns it, but with no plans for it at this time... I think most of the excuses have been its too heavy, uses too much fuel, no cab signals, etc etc etc, .
 #650111  by lvrr325
 
Given the train has a power source, they could pretty much use whatever engines are available that day, it doesn't really matter unless they wanted to bring in something special for power.
 #653753  by 3shorts
 
I see the pass. consist sitting in Binghamton. Any chance they will operate from Bing?
Makes more sense than out of Cortland.
And for sure could fill the cars. Even several trips wouldn't hurt.
 #653770  by Steve F45
 
when I went tot he festival in 2007 they were running from syracuse and bingo. I boarded at Cortland. There must've been several hundred people using this station alone. why not use it.
 #653928  by amoreho1
 
no train for bingo or the 'cuse,between Cortland and marathon only
 #653944  by 3shorts
 
Can anyone explain why only running from Cortland?
Is it the track condition ?
or what?
 #654048  by Otto Vondrak
 
3shorts wrote:I see the pass. consist sitting in Binghamton. Any chance they will operate from Bing?
Nope.

http://www.maplefest.org/trainschedule.html

The railroad ran special excursions from Syracuse and Binghamton a few years ago, but that was it. They'd need two trains, two sets of crews, and I'm sure if they thought they could make money on it, they'd do it. Its primarily a shuttle from Cortland (lots of parking) to the festival at Marathon (not much parking).

-otto-
 #654311  by lvrr325
 
Where exactly would anyone board in Binghamton?

Seems like the year they ran trains out of Syracuse, they ran down in the morning, back and forth all day, and back up at night, so they only needed one train.
 #654517  by Otto Vondrak
 
lvrr325 wrote:Where exactly would anyone board in Binghamton?
At the ex-D&H station, where they did last time. But they're not, so they wont.

-otto-
 #654951  by curious
 
Can someone PLEASE post an address for the train station in Cortland? I want to take the train from Cortland to Marathon tomorrow (March 29) for the Maple Festival with my daughter and her friend. They're 6. I thought they'd love the train. BUT, there's no address for the train station ANYWHERE on the internetz! Hard to believe, but absolutely true. I have been searching for hours. And believe me, I will let the festival organizers know they are missing out on a HUGE opportunity by not posting directions to the train station(s) on their site. Please HELP! Thank you.
 #654956  by ricebrianrice
 
So I took the family to Marathon today, after touring the grounds (they were not even boiling sap, huh, it was a maple festival?), watching my daughter dance at the high school, we went and rode the 3:00 train round trip

So here were my impressions:
The Metra Bi-Level Coaches are JUNK. No wonder no ones has bought them, they are beat, they are rusted, windows are fogged over, seats are uncomfortable and broken
The Adirondack Coach/Power car was better, but was still pretty rough, seats falling apart, tilted forward, windows fogged over.

The air conditioning was NOT working, so it was very very hot in all coaches.
The trains were very oversold, with my wife and 4 kids we had to stand for the ride to Cortland. Wife not happy, especially since we bought our tickets early in the day.

Track is meant for freight trains, we rocked and rolled all the way

3022 pulled north, 3634 pulled south, who ever was at the controls did a great job, never felt the slack go in or out very smooth.

Kids got to get up close to the engine, they liked that a lot.

The conductor on the ADIX coach was a volunteer from the CNYRHS, he was very friendly, and would like to thank him for a pleasant conversation!

And me, I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Glad to say I rode on the NYS&W while I could.

Brian