Conway Scenic Railroad (CSRX) discussion thread

[Jonathan]

Today was better than I thought, trains were running on time, the only minor complaint I had was that there was no 1 pm freight, but the reason was that the two engineers on the f7s had to go. I will say this, the 573 transformed into b&m 1560 for the weekend was unexpected but a nice touch, tied in to the whole Boston and Maine heritage, as did having the f units. For an event that was announced three weeks before it happened, they really exceeded my expectations.

[Who]

After this weekend, it's clear they need to bring back Railfan's Weekend, what a blast that was! To Dave and everyone in management, can you please bring it back? I know you all read this forum, let's let bygones be bygones for once, nobody is winning in this standoff. This weekend felt like the good old days, use the event to kick off the fall foliage season, a freight extra that runs between Conway, Bartlett and Redstone on Saturday and Sunday, an extended Mountaineer train that goes to Redstone and Hazen's on Saturday and Redstone & Fabyan's on Sunday, with a couple of spots for photo runs. Let's just turn a page and bring this fantastic event back, because everyone wins at the end of the day. Bring back the speeder and hand pump cars, the silent auctions at the station and the night photo session on Saturday nights. Why let those who are still fans of the great railroad suffer from the hatred of others, the great event will be 5 years removed this year, it's time to bring it back. It felt like the Conway Scenic of old this past weekend and that's a good thing.

[Jonathan]

I agree wholeheartedly, 2018 and 2019 had some good trends going for Railfans Weekend, they should definitely expand on the ideas that were started this weekend, the bus seemed like it worked well for everyone involved. 573 backdated to represent a b&m GP7 was an incredible idea that I don't think even the harshest critics of Conway Scenic saw coming, having a b&m focused freight was incredible, although maybe if they think about making the freight like a true freight operation complete with picking cars up, setting cars off, that would be more interesting for railfans.

[CSRR573]

The event did exceed my expectations but that's because I didn't have them as high as Railfans weekends past. I will agree the renumbering of 573 was a nice surprise and looked absolutely beautiful. Hope they do that again when 1741 is repainted into the bluebird scheme. A full B&M freight was nice as well. Posing the 66/68 next to the FY was nice, When was the last time they saw each other? Now I will say the boarding process and yellow chains kill it for me. Not very smooth and the chains dont look good IMHO. Also most of the valley fleet, the ex Amtrak baggage and the Ohio central cars are all parked on depot street which looks like a gravel pit now. I do also wish they utilized more of the railroad for this weekend. Now I understand this wasn't a "Railfans Weekend" and crew availability might have been limited but a notch train would have been nice. I will say this past weekend does give a glimmer of hope that if/when Mr.Swirk cares about the railfans, they can still put together a decent weekend.

[CPF66]

I didn't get the opportunity to go but it seems like the event was a bright spot of the last 5 years. It would have been nice if details about the photo freight had been made public earlier. It also goes without saying it would have also been nice to have had 7470 and the retro open air car there. But all things considered, the event looked like it was a 8/10 just from what I heard.

[S1f3432]

Maine DOT has released Mountain Division Trail Study : https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/de ... 21c18f5099

[Cowford]

Boy, HNTB has a chutzpah.

"The report concluded that passenger rail was not feasible, and freight rail was only feasible under ideal conditions."

Actually, there were two reports written by HNTB (after an initial non-HNTB report was authored).. Each study had progressively rosier estimates of freight potential. Enough for MDOT to sink $5M into the mindless S Windham track rehab. Nowhere did they provide such caution - HNTB just told MDOT what they wanted to hear.

[Goddraug]

The “ideal conditions” were having a freight operator interested in the corridor, which didn’t happen within the time frame.

I’ve always found studies that examine freight rail to be fascinating when compared to passenger rail studies, since these consulting firms can postulate that there’s lot’s of business potential or no business potential, but they can only do so much since they’re not a railroad company or railroad shipper. They could ID a gravel company that has interest in rail, for instance, but if the railroad’s not going to provide a competitive rate to trucking then it’s just words in a study that hardly have meaning. It’s why I feel like we don’t see studies about excursion rail: a bunch of hypotheticals that in the real world rely on things outside of a publicly-funded study.

[Who]

I'm very confused about that study, last year Maine governor sign a bill into law that approved the removal of rail once the necessary funding was secured. Just recently I heard someone say funding is secure, and rail removal should be starting next spring, so what gives?

[Goddraug]

If by “secure” they meant seeking approval, then sure. They need approval for $8 million for the Brownfield segment that they’re trying to set aside for it, and they’re hoping they’ll pass question 4 in Maine this November and receive additional funding for the trail, even though that’s a more broad trail question. Assuming nobody steps in and makes an offer, then it seems like next year at the earliest.

[CSRR573]

I forgot about the old open air boxcars they were repairing for the 50th. They obviously didn't make an appearance during the event, are plans still on the restore these?

[NHV 669]

9/1, 9/8, and 9/15 Sunday trips have been added for the Mountaineer.

[shadyjay]

About time! I don't know why their summer Mountaineer schedule is so limited. You'd think they'd run on Fridays and Sundays every week. Many take long weekends and some would take advantage of the Mountaineer if it was running.

EDITED TO ADD...

Anyone know if the open car (Silver Cascade I believe - with the long benches that face out where the windows used to be) is running on the Mountaineer? This has been my preferred accomodations the past couple times I've ridden in the past.

[b&m 1566]

The demand is what drives the schedule and with only three weekly departures, that tells me people are not buying tickets to warrant a fourth departure. Looking at all my brochures, you have to go all the way back to 1996, to find the last time they operated the notch train on Sundays outside of the fall foliage season. That year trains departed Tuesday - Sunday with Mondays being the off day. From 1997 - 99 the train departed Tue - Sat. From at least 2005 to 2019 *excluding 2009*, the notch train departed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturdays. *In 2009 they removed Wednesday departures. 2000 - 2004 I can't find the brochures (it's annoying me), but I want to say it was 2000 or 2001 when Friday departures were removed from the schedule.
Adding Sunday's is a good thing but I'm willing to bet the demand is coming from the cruise ships and they are just opening up the remaining available seats to non cruise ship customers.

[MEC407]

Looking at all my brochures, you have to go all the way back to 1996, to find the last time they operated the notch train on Sundays outside of the fall foliage season.
. . .
Adding Sunday's is a good thing but I'm willing to bet the demand is coming from the cruise ships and they are just opening up the remaining available seats to non cruise ship customers.

Sunday tends to be the day when tourists head back home (excluding long holiday weekends when they head back on Monday). Having grown up in a tourist town, I'm not surprised that Sunday has historically been a low-demand day for Conway Scenic.