Hi. I’m a fan of Conway Scenic and looking at the recent things happening with the railroad I’d like to chime in.
First of all, I see that some people have complained about the Rhonda Lee Dome Car. In order for it to look like the rest of the consist, the stainless steel would have to be taken off and a new coat would have to be put on. Conway says on their Facebook they wouldn’t like to do that.
Second of all, there’s a lot of discussion regarding Steam Loco #7470. From what I know, minimal damage was done to the cab. If it were Strasburg it would probably be an easy fix. However since Conway likes to keep buying new equipment and not taking care of their old, I’m not so sure.
Now I’m going to get into the current topic: Ownership. I looked at some of the comments here, and I don’t know if they are true, so bare with me as I am trying to be as accurate as possible.
Some previous threads talk about what they pay, and that it’s under minimal wage. Not going to get into that stuff, I’m gonna talk about what’s going on for the physical railroad itself.
Let’s list all the GOOD things for CSR that happened in 2021:
- Snow Trains through January
- Gertrude Emma returned
- #1751 gets an M3RT1 horn
- Progress on #4268
- #4266/68 repainted and glossed
- #72 added to the roster
- 470 Club Trip
- #255 added to the roster
- #252 restored
- #7470 restored briefly
Let’s now list the BAD things that happened:
- No time for equipment matinence
- Railfans Day 2021
- #252 down for over a year
- #7470 never ran until the VERY END of the year; for 2 days
- Too much unnecessary equipment purchased- a generator?
- Mass Bay exposed Conway to have been not working on #7470 - website said “very little work has been done”
- Many railfans quit after Conway cancelled Steam in the Snow
- Other bad management decisions made.
What will probably happen in 2022?
- #216 breaking down
- #255 painted yellow
- More railfans quitting
- #7470 runs? I hope
- Doubleheader photo freight #255/#252 - they call that “railfans day”
- #4268 runs
- Amazing 470 Club Trip- Revenue run of #4268
- #6505 & #6516 brought back, new owners will take anything
- Equipment breaking down
So, I personally believe that we do need new management, place is going downhill right now. Also some threads say that there is no Ops. Manager because all the others fired or quit because of the railroad’s status.
I hope you enjoyed my “rant”, I know all of us want the place to strive and be as great as it was, but with this ownership, I’m not sure it can…
ConwayScenic252
Main Power for the Mountaineer since 2011.