Metro-North announces Fall Railfan Trips

September 11, 2005 - Nuagatuck Flyer - Take a trip up the Waterbury Branch and beyond over the Naugatuck Railroad to Thomaston Dam.

October 23, 2005 - Farewell to the FL9's - Start at Stamford, run up the Waterbury Branch, then over the Housatonic Railroad to Danbury, then down the Danbury Branch to South Norwalk and return to Stamford.

See the ad in the September issue of Railpace or visit http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/grouptravel/excursions.htm for more info.

-otto-

so far i don't see anything on the MNRR web site.

do you know the times this will be at how much it will cost?

Naugatuck Flyer - Sunday, September 11, 2005. Standard Bomb train with Genesis; Naugatuck RR will use their NHRR RS3 #0529 on their portion of the trip. At least one photo stop, and probably more (photo stop locations to be announced on board). Coach fare: Adults, $65, children $40. Lunch is on your own in Thomaston.

Farewell to the FL9s - Sunday, October 23, 2005. Two NH painted (hopefully...) FL9s, MN1, 4 bomb coaches and MN2. Trip actually originates out of GCT on private section of train 6510 (8:07AM); change to the excursion train at Stamford. Excursion train runs Stamford -> Devon -> Derby Jct. -> [Housatonic RR] -> Danbury -> Stamford. A special MU train will then run Stamford to GCT for New York fans. Boarding/detraining will be permitted at Stamford. At least one photo stop, and probably more (photo stop locations to be announced on board). Coach fare: Adults, $75, children $40. First Class fare aboard Phoebe Snow observation cars MN1 and MN2: $200. Coach and First Class passengers on this trip receive boxed lunch and admission to the Danbury Railway Museum.

The MNR fantrip poster/flyer can be viewed here.

For tickets: Coach tickets on both trips will be sold EXCLUSIVELY on the web, at http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/grouptravel/excursions.htm. As info, the web site isn't up yet with this information, but will be by the end of this week. COACH TICKETS WILL NOT BE SOLD BY TELEPHONE OR MAIL ORDER - Only via the web. If you don't have a credit card for the web order, you'll need to find someone who can help you out. Sorry, but there's too much involved to permit telephone or mail-order sales. :(

First class tickets (VERY limited availability) on the Farewell to the FL9s trip will be sold only by telephone; call MNR Group Travel at 212-499-4398, M-F 8:30AM to 5:00PM.

Check the web site over the next few days, and buy your tickets early!

Jim

It may not be up on the MTA website, but (thanks to Dutchrailnut for linking it on another board), there is a poster about it here, in .pdf format.

Thats the same link as above.

75 bucks that quiet steep

Lets not debate the cost here ad-nauseum.

The railroad sets the cost and either you can swing it or you can't.

I'll just say this regarding the cost, then we'll let the issue die: Running a railroad isn't a cheap proposition. The fare revenue for these trips will cover expenses, with just enough left over to show there's a rationale for running the trips besides giving railfans their jollies. Look at it this way: take the cost of the Naugatuck Flyer ticket, subtract the portion that goes to the Naugatuck Railroad (between $10 & 15 - I won't divulge specifics), and that's about what it REALLY costs to bring you to Waterbury and back by train. Subtract the regular fare, and you now know what your wonderful state government chips in to let you ride the trains affordably. Sorry to have to break the news, but fan trips are not subsidized by government.

If the fare were any less we couldn't run the trips, and we all would be much the worse for it.

Jim

I will make every effort to go on the FL9 trip. I will be in my fall semester at Mercy in Dobbs.

I do not think the price is too much, the cost of operating trips of this
nature are pretty high. Equipment will need to be deadheaded and at
least one extra crew plus pilots or whatever, plus fuel for the engines,
plus extra support people to work the job, plus likely police protection and
a host of other forseen and possibly unforseen costs.
You folks are lucky to have management with Metro-North who is willing to
go the mile and make something like this available for you to ride.
I can remember being on the trip committee for the Branford Electric
Railway Association back in 1965 when we set up a steam powered trip
From White River Junction to St. Albans, Vermont and return. It was a
very expensive for the time trip to operate with steam engine and coaches
all having to be deadheaded for a long distance before we could even
start. We gave it a lot of though after receiving the rate from the
Canadian National and decided to go ahead and give it our best. We ran
it in August which is probably not an ideal month for a trip of this nature
and we got the OK a little bit too late to get an announcement in "Trains
Magazine". We did not sell the train out and barely made our expenses
but we got good exposure and the following year with the same 6218, we
got an OK to run it out of New London and made a good profit.
The cost in 1965 seemed quite steep for a fantrip at the time, $15.00
which until then had not been that high. We got a little flack for the thing
but we explained that it was either run it at that price or not run it at all
and we had done too much work on it to just say "forget it".
Finally, you can bet that if a major freight railroad was involved in some-
thing like this, the cost of a ticket would be much higher than $75.00.
With the FL-9 trip, buy your ticket, go and enjoy the trip. You probably
will never get a second chance on this one.
Even though I have worked both lines that it is going to run on plus the
Housatonic territory too and have operated all 60 FL-9's that were built, I
would still pay the $75.00 to ride this interesting trip IF I was going to be
in the northeast in October but I will not leave Florida after my return in
early September, at least not again this year.
ENJOY!!!!!
Noel Weaver

Otto Vondrak wrote: October 23, 2005 - Farewell to the FL9's - Start at Stamford, run up the Waterbury Branch, then over the Housatonic Railroad to Danbury, then down the Danbury Branch to South Norwalk and return to Stamford.

See the ad in the September issue of Railpace or visit http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/grouptravel/excursions.htm for more info.

-otto-

Am I correct in assuming that one of these days when I click on that link there will be instructions for purchasing tickets?

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery/Misc ... 00_07_13_2

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery/Misc ... 00_07_13_3

Bob

chuchubob wrote:Am I correct in assuming that one of these days when I click on that link there will be instructions for purchasing tickets?

Yes, you're correct. I'll admit a bit of unpreparedness on MN's part here. The Railpace ad came out a week earlier than we'd planned for, and the programming changes required to allow WebTicket to handle the fan trips took longer than we'd expected, and so we're left in this situation. We're hoping to have to WebTicket changes tested and placed into production early next week, and then you'll be able to purchase your tickets. As info, first class tickets on the FL9 Farewell trip are being sold only by phone, so if it's a first class ticket you want, please call the number in the ad and make your reservation. Don't wait--one of the two cars is already sold out.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I'll remain patient, realizing that the trip is still more than two months in the future.

how fast do these trips usually sell out? i wont have the money for another week or two, will i be too late?

You'll be too late only if you want a first-class ticket on the Farewell to the FL9 trip. Normally, coach tickets will not sell out until close to the trip date.

Jim