2005 "Farewell to the FL9" fan trip

Erie-Lackawanna wrote:

Otto Vondrak wrote:a) the organizers of the trip were bringing out the property owners for a photograph?

Um, the appearance of the owners of the station building was not at the request of the trip organizers, nor did we know in advance that they would be joining us as we mobbed their property. We only asked their permission, prior to the trip, to make the photo stop at their home.

Otto Vondrak wrote:Unfortunately, the best photo stop of the trip was the worst organized (as in *no* organization).

But ya got a real purty picture anyway...so no harm, no foul. Right?

Jim

Welcome back, Jim!

So I think you're misunderstanding my post. The photographers were lined up in (as best we could) a self-organized photo line waiting for the sun to appear. *Someone* from the train, wearing a Metro-North vest, and whom I recognized as one of the on-board representatives of the railroad, went over to the station and fetched some random family and put them directly in the line of fire. That's when the screaming started. Now, he had a megaphone. If he had announced to us that he was bringing out the family who owned the station for a photo op, I think we would have been screaming "THANK YOU!" instead of "F- YOU!" Same representative from the train also made sure he jumped off first and got his shot before anyone else was allowed to detrain. The loudest and rudest screams came from those who crashed the photo op and did NOT buy tickets for said event.

I don't know why you're mocking my photo, but as I explained before, it was the only bump in the trip. And if the family felt insulted by all the screaming, then I place the blame squarely at the feet of the representative who blatantly ignored the people who were clearly set up for a photo and had no clue what he was trying to do. All he had to do was turn around and use his megaphone to let us know what was up. All the other photo stops were organized well. Other than that, a spectacular trip on rare mileage, a fitting farewell. I got my money's worth.

We're berating a moot point five years past. Let's move on.


-otto-

Brings back memories!

http://public.fotki.com/vingong/2005_ar ... o_the_fl9/

That was an amazing trip, for sure. I bought myself a first class seat, and at one point sat next to a nice guy from the ME railroad.

We talked about their (then) new Rockland ME (Maine Eastern) branch, which is a very cool line running the mid coast region of Maine. it is perhaps one of the most scenic in the country, and I happen to have a summer vacation house located near the line.

Through that conversation and chance encounter, I ended up getting a cab ride the very next week on the ME in an ex Amtrak FL-9....rode from Rockland to Brunswick and back...talk about a trip that paid dividends! I will never forget both of those experiences.

Many thanks for the replies. I realized just today that the trip was run 8 years ago yesterday. Man how time flies!!

I was also on the trip in car 6312
The crew was really nice
It was great weather
Many thanks to housatonic
I also took 5 pictures from 2027 approaching the consist in cannan

I was there in the coaches and was just as nice than the first class observation cars! I agreed the stop at West Cornwall or whatever it was was the best but feel bad for the owners of the property!

I rode that trip and it was a great experience. Of course it isn't a true railfan event if there isn't at least one hissy fit meltdown!

In fact I was just talking about this trip with some friends of mine. I rode part of that trip with Adrian Ettlinger of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. Sadly Adrian passed away four days ago.