Hudson Line Charter Special Train 11/08/2014

Metro North will operate a charter special train of private cars from New York (GCT) to Poughkeepsie and return on Saturday November 8th. Consist will be private cars BABBLING BROOK, NYC 43 and HICKORY CREEK, with a pair of MN locomotives. Departure from GCT is in the morning, circa 9 AM. Train will layover at Poughkeepsie for a sufficient time so the passengers can explore the station and the Walkway Over the Hudson. Return trip may depart Poughkeepsie for GCT around 12:30 PM.

The client is a group of railway enthusiasts visiting from Japan.

/edited at author's request.

Would an Amtrak Special Train have been cheaper?

I wonder why the train had 2 locomotives (for 3 cars total).

Why doesn't Metro-North run special trains like this every now and then? I'd sure take one. I saw the train leave GCT and then come back and only the middle car (NYC 43) was full of people; the two observation cars had just a handful in them. Thus the price per person couldn't have been that steep, if there was so much unused space.

SouthernRailway wrote:I wonder why the train had 2 locomotives (for 3 cars total).

Why doesn't Metro-North run special trains like this every now and then? I'd sure take one. I saw the train leave GCT and then come back and only the middle car (NYC 43) was full of people; the two observation cars had just a handful in them. Thus the price per person couldn't have been that steep, if there was so much unused space.

Metro North isn't in the business of running special trains like this. The group traveling hires the charter service who in turn makes arrangements with MNR for the power, crews, etc.

Reason for two back to back locomotives is cause there is no facilities in Poughkeepsie, to turn train so locomotives have to run around train.

truck6018 wrote:
Metro North isn't in the business of running special trains like this. The group traveling hires the charter service who in turn makes arrangements with MNR for the power, crews, etc.

Thanks.

Well...why isn't SOMEONE in the business of running special trains like this, if there is profit to be made? Any money-losing entity such as Metro-North should be finding ways to make a profit on even small things, to offset subsidies from taxpayers.

(Dutch Railnut, thanks, that makes sense.)

MN is more than willing to run specials, but not many people can afford to ride them however.
besides the cost of these 3 private cars, the two engines plus fuel, a crew, logistics, switching fees, insurance etc.
betya MN is not making a lot of money on it.

Saw the train twice today in Philipse Manor, this morning when it went up north it went by at 10:19 AM and this afternoon headed southbound was at 1:42PM. The 2 P32AC-DM Units leading were #226 and #218.

Photos & Videos from two locations:

VIDEO: http://youtu.be/VFh0aVEfgsM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Photos:
https://500px.com/photo/89123293/metro- ... er_library" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://500px.com/photo/89128275/metro- ... er_library" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://500px.com/photo/89128277/babbli ... er_library" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well...why isn't SOMEONE in the business of running special trains like this, if there is profit to be made? Any money-losing entity such as Metro-North should be finding ways to make a profit on even small things, to offset subsidies from taxpayers.

Well...You could contact Amtrak or Metro North to run a charter train using their equipment. If you were to run as this one did, GCT to Poughkeepsie, you would probably be the only one on it, as most would say "I'll just take a regular Metro North train. It's cheaper."

So, now you need to take a fleet of older cars, refurbish them and bring them up to current standards that railroads will accept them. Many private car owners that do this spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to do just that. Once that is done, you'll need to pay a huge sum just to ferry the equipment where you'd like it to run, and then pay for the railroad to charter a crew and locomotives. Let's not forget about liability insurance. The ticket prices for such an excursion would be fairly large to offset the costs (I've heard the cost to ride that train was about $1,000 a pop). So as far as you chartering a train to make a profit, there isn't all that much to be made on something like this.

As for Metro North finding ways to turn a profit, government agencies do not operate like that. If they make a profit or break even, they lose their subsidies. So there is no incentive for them to attempt to make a profit.

Didn't someone say it would have been far cheaper to tack the cars onto an Empire Service train? (Of course then they couldn't make the Walkway Over The Hudson pitstop.)

Must be nice to have so much money to burn.