Railroad Nation

Take the family on a magical train ride to the North Pole! Ride behind
 Pere Marquette 1225 Steam Locomotive for an evening of Christmas fun
for the entire family. Riders depart from the Steam Railroading Institute
in Owosso, Michigan behind the locomotive selected by Warner Brothers
as the image for the Polar Express animated movie. This four-hour journey
includes a visit with Santa, live entertainment, hot cocoa and indoor
carnival rides at the North Pole.
This roundtrip excursion is only $70 per adult and $40 per child
(12 and under).
Dates and times are limited so book your tickets today and help create
a lifetime of magical memories by visiting www.michigansteamtrain.com
or calling the Steam Railroading Institute at 989.725.9464.

               

For more on train rides in Michigan, visit: 
http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/michigan_trainrides.php

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Virginia Railway Express board recommended a French company be hired to operate VRE commuter trains effective next summer, a move that would end 17 years of contracted operations by Amtrak, the Washington Post has reported. Keolis Rail Services of America, a U.S. arm of a French company, received the contract under a unanimous vote by the VRE operations board.

VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said four companies submitted bids to operate the trains, and that Keolis rated highest, based mainly on its customer service, plus its management and operations plan. It also underbid Amtrak, offering to take over running the service for $18.5 million versus Amtrak’s $19.6 million plus its $2.2 million mobilization fee (versus Keolis’s $1.7 million). He said the agency also wanted a more “hands-on” approach from its operator.

Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said the railroad is “saddened and disappointed in the recommendation, as our employees have invested a great deal of heart, energy, and effort in providing excellent service to VRE passengers since 1992.”

The Northern Virginia and Potomac and Rappahannock transportation commissions will have the final say on whether the board’s recommendations come to pass. If approved, it would be Keolis’s first commuter train operating contract in the U.S.

VRE’s weekday commuter trains run on two lines south of Washington Union Station. The 35-mile Manassas Line uses Norfolk Southern trackage from Alexandria to Manassas, and the 55-mile Fredericksburg Line uses CSX Transportation from Washington to Fredericksburg.

VRE officials said the switch should impact operations from a customer perspective. However, he said because Amtrak controls railroad operations in and out of Washington Union Station, it would have the ability to retaliate. “The critical question will be how things change at Union Station,” Roeber said. “We expect the same level of service, but whether there is any animosity there, you never can tell. We hope it will be a smooth transition.”

Enjoy a ride on the scenic New Hope Valley Railway behind double-headed steam locomotives. Double-headed steam is special because so few steam engines remain in operation today that being able to run two in tandem is quite rare. In contrast, when these iron horses ruled the rails, double-heading engines was common and sometimes necessary to get long heavy trains up mountainous inclines and high passes.

The New Hope Valley Railway is proud to announce that Flagg Coal #75 will visit the New Hope Valley double-heading with their very own #17 steam locomotive. The two Vulcan tank engines are very similar, built about 11 years apart at the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre, PA. These tank engines served industry lines and switched carloads of goods for decades. Double-head passenger train rides will run for two special days,  October 31 and November 1st.  Everyone is invited to come enjoy this special event and experience the sights, sounds, and memories of a lifetime!

For more on North Carolina Train Rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/northcarolina_trainrides.php

WASHINGTON — Due to a deluge of applications for high speed rail funding, the Federal Railroad Administration Tuesday announced it would award grants for high speed rail development this winter. According to Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo, the agency has received 45 applications from 24 states totaling approximately $50 billion to advance high speed rail corridor programs. It also received 214 applications from 34 states totaling $7 billion for corridor planning and smaller projects. The economic stimulus package approved earlier this year included $8 billion for high speed rail. “We have received numerous applications from states and groups of states for the development of high speed and intercity passenger rail programs for grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” Szabo said in a news release. “Due to the overwhelming response and our desire to lay the groundwork for a truly national high speed and intercity passenger rail program, we will be announcing all awards this winter.”

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told Congress last week that he would name the winners of the stimulus law’s $1.5 billion Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program before the end of the year. The TIGER program includes built-in competition between modes of transportation, from railroads to ports and roads. Within the Obama administration, ten teams are evaluating the applications submitted for TIGER, which the U.S. Department of Transportation says total $57 billion. Several states have submitted proposals to fund rail projects under the TIGER program.

NEW YORK — Metro-North Railroad will operate its 6th Annual Fall Foliage Excursion along the Hudson River on Oct. 24. The private Metro-North train will run from Grand Central Terminal to Cold Spring, N.Y. The trip takes 70 minutes one way and will be narrated by car hosts from Group Travel. The train departs the station at 10:15 a.m. and will leave Cold Spring at 4:15 p.m. Additional stops will be made at Harlem-125th Street and Tarrytown.

Adult fare is $40 and $10 for children 11 and under. Tickets may be purchased on Metro-North’s Group Travel Web site at www.mta.info. Tickets may be purchased through Oct. 19. For more information, contact the Group Travel Office at 212-499-4398 or groupsales@mnr.org.

For more on New York Train Rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/newyork_trainrides.php

MINNEAPOLIS — After being in storage since August in Minneapolis, Southern Pacific “Daylight” 4-8-4 No. 4449 will stretch its legs again this weekend with sold-out round trip excursions from Minneapolis to Winona and La Crescent, Minn., on Oct. 10-11. The trips over Canadian Pacific’s ex-Milwaukee Road route are sponsored by the Minneapolis-based “Friends of the 261” and the “Friends of SP 4449.”

The “Daylight” 4-8-4 is based in Portland, Ore., but traveled east to Owosso, Mich., in July to participate in TrainFestival 2009, which featured several steam locomotives and drew over 30,000 people. The engine departed Michigan on July 31 and arrived in Minneapolis on Aug. 3. Since then the Minneapolis Junction shop crew has performed minor repairs to 4449. The shop is also home to No. 261, which has been out of service since its last trip on Sept. 14, 2008. At that time, 261 was due for its mandated federal inspection and overhaul. However, work has been delayed until the 261’s owners, the National Railroad Museum of Green Bay, Wis., and the non-profit “Friends of the 261,” come to a conclusion on their new lease agreement. The 4449 trips are being operated as a fundraiser for the 261’s eventual overhaul.

After the weekend excursions, No. 4449 will begin a ferry move on BNSF back to Portland. The schedule for the ferry move is:

Oct. 13: Minneapolis - Fargo, N.D.
Oct. 14: Fargo - Minot, N.D.
Oct. 15: Layover Minot
Oct. 16: Minot - Havre, Mont.
Oct. 17: Havre - Whitefish, Mont.
Oct. 18: Layover Whitefish
Oct. 19: Whitefish ­- Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 20: Spokane - Portland

Tickets are still available for the ferry trips and can be ordered at www.trainfestival2009.com/tickets.

ORLANDO — Florida has received a last-minute boost from Walt Disney World in its bid for $2.5 billion of federal money to build a high speed train linking Orlando and Tampa, according to a story in the Orlando Sentinel. Disney says it will support a stop at the Orange County Convention Center, and provide up to 50 acres of free land for a station. For years, Disney wanted any train that might be built to make a straight shot from Orlando International Airport to its parks, with no intermediate stations.

Disney’s backing is important because it could draw millions of riders onto the system, helping to underwrite operating costs over the entire 90-mile route.

(more…)

The Norfolk and Western Railway was the last American railroad to abandon steam and convert to diesel. During the mid-1950s, O. Winston Link (1914-2001) created a photographic legacy of this period of American rail history which remains unrivaled.

Beginning in 1955, Link traveled to Staunton, Virginia, to do an industrial shoot. He knew that the Norfolk & Western Railway passed in nearby Waynesboro and that it was the last large steam-powered American railroad. Link went to observe it. Granted permission to access the tracks by R. H. Smith, president of the N & W Railroad, Link returned the night of January 21, 1955 with his equipment and began photographing the trains.

In the next five years, Winston Link made twenty trips to N & W’s tracks in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, producing 2,400 images. Most of the images were produced on 4 x 5 film with a Graphic View Camera.

The last of the N & W’s steam locomotives was taken out of service in May 1960, and Winston returned to New York, where he continued his work as a commercial photographer. He documented construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York harbor, photographed for Volkswagen of America as well as a number of advertising agencies.

To see the O. Wilson Link 2010  “Steam & Steel” calendar and more,

visit: Scenic Rails Whistle Stop & Shop-Calendars

For more on the O. Wilson Link Museum and Virginia train rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/virginia_trainrides.php

DENVER—The Ski Train may be back this winter after the Union Pacific Railroad agreed to let a new owner use its tracks between Denver and the Winter Park resort.The special passenger train was in danger of dying when the previous owner folded the operation last spring after a 69-year run.

Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings, which operates freight and excursion trains in six states including Colorado, wants to take over the service.

On Thursday, Omaha-based Union Pacific agreed to let Iowa Pacific use the same route the previous Ski Train owners used.

Iowa Pacific President Ed Ellis says the train would use his company’s equipment and Amtrak would provide the crews.

An Amtrak spokesman said Friday the company is reviewing Iowa Pacific’s proposal but no decision has been made.

Denver Post 9/18/09

For more on Colorado Train Rides, see: http://scenicrailexcursions.com/colorado_trainrides.php

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Railroad announced last week it would lay off 127 employees and cancel it’s ski train excursions next spring, the Anchorage Daily News has reported. The state-owned railroad has lost business in the recession, forcing the cuts.

A tradition going back to the 1940’s, the train has carried thousands of skiers into the remote backcountry of Grandview, south of Anchorage, and Curry, near Talkeetna.

All winter excursions, except maybe the holiday train to Seward will be canceled. Wendy Lindskoog, the railroad’s associate vice president of corporate affairs, said the ski train could be a money-losing proposition depending on weather. “There is extra cost associated with running charters in the winter,” she said. “Weather can throw unexpected hurdles at you, and you often end up not making money. On some charters you make money, but on others you don’t.”

Regularly scheduled passenger service to Fairbanks will continue through the winter.

For more on Alaska Train Rides, visit:

http://www.scenicrailexcursions.com/alaska_trainrides.php