Metro-North announces Fall Railfan Trips

Let me belatedly add my words of praise to the good people at Metro-North for putting on another excellent trip. Eventually, after the trip is long forgotten, I'll find the time to download my photos and upload some to share.

Thanks to my pal Fred for including this photo of Nick and me, showing our more photogenic side. And thanks to Nick for pointing it out a couple pages back, although I had already found it when I looked at Fred's pix.

http://www.madre-de-dios.org/gallery/10 ... /Canaan_05

It was good running into some old friends again, and finally getting to meet Otto.

Bob

I really enjoyed the trip as well. A few comments:

1. The trip was enjoyable, but LONG. A fellow onboard told me that when he fired FL9s going from Pittsfield to Danbury, they had regular tangents where they could open them up to 60 mph "back in the day". Sorry to see that the track can't support that, but at least it's still there, unlike the old CNE line in Canaan. Kudos to the Housy for putting up with the trip, and allowing us priority over their own delayed freight.

2. There were quite a few loudmouths, both on and off the train. This comes with the territory, I believe, so if they bother you, bring and wear your walkman/ipod, or switch seats. Even in 1st class, things were pretty noisy most of the time. But people were enjoying themselves.

3. I made the mistake of sitting on the east side of the train, had to crane my neck to see most of the more scenic spots.

4. First class was worth it, not only for the primo accomodations and better food, but also a close-up view of the FL9 nose during 1/2 the trip. There was some real rockin' and rollin' going on south of Canaan! Some of the track made the Phoebe Snow car creak like it was going to fall off the rail.

5. One area that could use improvement was the long wait getting off in Danbury and the photo stop, due to the limited platform size, etc. More egress was definitely needed. Temporary platforms, anyone?

6. The M-N folks were all pleasant and helpful (and they were everywhere). The train left/arrived pretty close to on time, which is an accomplishment of its own considering the large number of people involved.

Looking forward to the next outing.

NH Chris

Maybe in the fall of 2006 Metro-North can have a special excursion commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the 413....They could use 2 F10's with ofcourse the 413 on the point as the oldest operating commuter diesel in the world~!! Glad to hear Metro-North understands the historical significance of the engine.....

The FL-9 trip was wonderful and the MTA carhosts deserve a lot of credit as does the railroad for making this rare mileage trip possible!


Steve

Otto Vondrak wrote:Yeah you bet Jessy is a girl (and yes, she's seeing someone)... don't you guys ever look at the About Us/Contact Us?

http://railroad.net/contact/index.php

And Metro-North didn't hand out the Railroad.net flyers... we did. No uniform required, 4 Express. But next time, you all should be wearing your Railroad.net t-shirts!

-otto-

No. *starts crying*

Group,
Glad to see everyone had fun. What becomes of these units when they retire? Thanks for sharing.

MOW Service then Scrap metal, many of the FL9s have already been cut up on the croton north dead line.
If you want one contact MN. Other then that scrap is in the foreseeable future.

Hello,

This is my first post and I wish to express my sheer delight and thrill of our recent trip aboard the "Farewell to the FL-9 " trip. While I only experienced my first rail-fan trip last year, in 2004, aboard the train crossing the Beacon/Maybrook Line, and subsequently traveled aboard the "Farewell to the ACMU's" as well as the Naugatuck trip - all of which I enjoyed immensely - this, by far, was my favorite to this date.

This comes for a number of reasons . I grew up in Sherman, Connecticut and excepting a siting of a Budd car at New Milford when I was around 5 years old, we never had passenger trains going up this far north. On my rare childhood trips into New York City from Danbury, and occasionally from Brewster, we always had the ever capable FL-9's escorting us into Grand Central Terminal. So, to bid a bittersweet adieux to my "Diesel friends", by having them take me up childhood rail tracks I never dreamt I would actually ride on - and this aboard historic cars - in addition to the spectacular scenery combined with the devoted attention of the Metro North crew, made for lifetime precious memories. How amazingly lucky we are to have such a dedicated Metro-North staff. I find it difficult to imagine there being a better metropolitan railroad anywhere.

With thunderous applause, very Sincerely, Tali

If you read earlier in this thread, you'll see that several units are already preserved by museums, and MN probably wont cut up the CDOT-owned FL9's anytime soon. They will get their money's worth out of them running MOW trains until they suffer some sort of catastrophic mechanical failure... and they they might consider disposition. Who knows? It's all speculation with no definite answer. Enjoy the cab units while they are around- remember that no one else in the country is able to see what we see on a daily basis.

-otto-

This is also explained in the schedule that they handed out (really nice touch by the way): "Several will be retained for use on work and leaf-cleaning trains and as spares, but as they suffer inevitable mechanical failures, they won't be repaired."

Otto,
Thanks for the info regarding there status. Does anyone know how many Photo runbys they had?

Hello all MN fans....

This is my first post on Railroad.net To say that I'm bummed at missing this trip is like saying a lot of trains run out of Grand Central Terminal.

Oh well. But I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments on this..

You know, with all the complex behind-the-scenes details that MN had to deal with on this fan trip revolving around crossing and equipment safety, scheduling, crewing (a whole second crew waiting at Danbury just in case things ran late), unions, convincing the Housie to give up a day of revenue, NRA regulations, special ticketing, etc, etc, the only thing people here want to talk about is the surprise pizza! If the other stuff didn't happen perfectly (which it pretty much did), the pizza would have gotten cold and nobody would have known it. I'm really, really impressed that MN's plans all came together so smoothly. Other operators have tried, but nobody else could have gotten it done.

"I find it difficult to imagine there being a better metropolitan railroad anywhere. "

Well said. What it comes down to is that Metro North folk love trains, and it shows. That may sound over simplistic, but great organizations start by having their people like what they do, not only on special events, but every day, and I do see it every day. I think MN really organized this trip because THEY wanted to ride the rare mile trackage, and what's wrong with that?

Other rail operations - including a certain national one - could learn a lot by following Metro North's example on how to run a railroad. - D

Trainer wrote:You know, with all the complex behind-the-scenes details that MN had to deal with on this fan trip revolving around crossing and equipment safety, scheduling, crewing (a whole second crew waiting at Danbury just in case things ran late), unions, convincing the Housie to give up a day of revenue, NRA regulations, special ticketing, etc, etc, the only thing people here want to talk about is the surprise pizza! If the other stuff didn't happen perfectly (which it pretty much did), the pizza would have gotten cold and nobody would have known it. I'm really, really impressed that MN's plans all came together so smoothly. Other operators have tried, but nobody else could have gotten it done.

"I find it difficult to imagine there being a better metropolitan railroad anywhere. "

Well said. What it comes down to is that Metro North folk love trains, and it shows. That may sound over simplistic, but great organizations start by having their people like what they do, not only on special events, but every day, and I do see it every day. I think MN really organized this trip because THEY wanted to ride the rare mile trackage, and what's wrong with that?

Other rail operations - including a certain national one - could learn a lot by following Metro North's example on how to run a railroad. - D

Thanks! :)

The truth is, there's a small group of railfans who do most of the fan trip planning and organizing from an operational point of view. There's another small group of equally dedicated people who work on the non-operational issues (ticketing, food, etc.). All of us, as dedicated and hard working as we are, are backed up by an organization that, dysfunctional as it may be <grin>, is extremely supportive, cognizant of the PR aspects of these things, and filled with people who love working on the railroad - and that's not the same as being a railfan. Without having all of these things in place, you don't put on trips like we've put on the past couple of years. And it shows in the daily operation, not just the fan trips. We stumble - every day, in minor ways - but we get back up, dust ourselves off, and learn how to do it right tomorrow (usually). ;-)

And yeah, we did Canaan because we wanted the rare mileage. ;-)

Jim

So, Jim, when do we run the NH-painted Gennie and Bom train up to Torrington??!!!! How about back-to-back NH Gennies?

Working with the MNCR people is like a dream; instead of "99 Reasons" (an old RR game where there are 99 reasons you can't do something), MNCR personnel enthusiastically figure out a way to "git-er-done", and safely, too. That holds true for almost everyone I've dealt with on the "Mets".

As i posted in another thread about boms painted in NYC livery, hows about a NYC painted Gennie? to be used in excursion service w/the Boms.
EX.

2012, 5 NYCboms 1 NYCbomCabcar
NYC painted Gennie, "", ""

I know its dreaming but its shure a possibility on MN. as we all know that we will never see a dashing dan on on the cannon ball again