For the first time in 12 years of hosting the Day Out With Thomas event, Essex Steam Train & Riverboat will kick off its 2010 season with a Spring event, Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010- – May 8-9 & 15-16.
All Aboard for the Best Birthday Party Ever! Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010 marks the 65th Anniversary of everyone’s favorite storybook engine, Thomas the Tank Engine. All Thomas fans are invited to come to the birthday bash and celebrate with their #1 engine. In addition to a 25-minute train ride aboard a real, vintage train lead by Thomas, anniversary highlights include:
* The opportunity to meet and be photographed with Sir Topham Hatt(TM), Controller of the Railway
*A special display celebrating 65 years of Thomas the Tank Engine
*2010 commemorative merchandise and giveaways, including a mini-view finder giveaway that tells the story of Thomas’ upcoming adventure, Misty Island Rescue
* A Thomas & Friends Imagination Station; featuring stamps, temporary tattoos, hands-on arts and crafts activities and coloring sheets.
West Virginia Rails 2010 will be celebrating 100 years of the railroad built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1910. Steam trains will once again whistle in the deep valleys. Three steam locomotives will be brought in. It has been nearly 50 years since a steam locomotive traveled these rails. This could be the only chance you will have to ride behind a vintage steam locomotive over this line so reserve your place in history by booking your tickets today!
Over three days rail excursions will be operated over the 51 mile long South Branch Valley Railroad through the World Famous Trough. Some trains will be pulled by vintage steam locomotives others by historic diesel locomotives.
Coming June 25-27, 2010, the sounds of steam whistles, the clickety-clack of steel wheels on rails, the smell of coal smoke and the excitement from children of all ages will take over Petersburg, WV. This quaint American town is located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Thousands of train lovers will ascend on Petersburg nestled in the heart of the Appalachia Mountains. The weekend theme will be Trains, Trains, Trains!
The Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad will be offering a rare railroading experience through the lush mountains of West Virginia. Steam and Diesel Locomotives from around the country will be on display for visitors to tour the cabs, take photos, watch demonstrations and much more. Huge model train layouts will be on display. Railroad vendors from around the globe will have unique one-of-a-kind train items and mementos for purchase that you won’t find any where else. Families will be able to take an all day excursion or shorter one-hour train ride behind various vintage locomotives. For the thrill seeking visitor, you will even be able to pull the throttle and blow the whistle on one of these steam locomotives. Scaled down miniature trains will be hauling passengers around the grounds of the event as well.
The weekend will include day-long excursions on Friday and Sunday between Romney and Petersburg, hauled in one direction by Western Maryland Scenic Railroad’s 1916 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 No. 734. It will also include diesel-powered lunch and dinner trains between Petersburg and the eagle-laden trough area on Saturday, hourly shuttles between Petersburg and Moorefield behind New Hope Valley Railway 0-4-0T No. 17, and 20-minute runs during which passengers can run the privately owned ex-Flagg Coal Co. 0-4-0T No. 75all three days. Festivities will include nighttime photo shoots of the steam and diesel locomotives on Friday and Saturday, cab tours, and rides on a 1/8-scale miniature train. Diesels will include ex-B&O passenger GP9 6604, ex-C&O GP9 6240, ex-CRR FP7 8016, and ex-B&LE F7 722.
Tickets for the Romney-Petersburg trips are $145 first class and $95 coach; dinner and lunch runs are $95 first class and $65 coach. The hourly shuttles are $18 for adults and $12 for children 3-16, and admission to the night photo shoots is $80. It will cost $85 to run No. 75. General admission to the show in Petersburg is $12 for adults and $9 for kids.
Tickets may be ordered on line at www.wvrails2010.com, or by mail from Potomac Valley Scenic Railroad, 2306 35th St., Parkersburg, W.Va. 26104.
EUSTIS, Fla. – Just when we need “shovel ready” projects to receive stimulus money to create jobs, this sure sounds like one to me. The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel has reported that Florida Rail Adventures is having to shut down its Mount Dora Meteor due to inadequate tie condition. The train, which operates over Florida Central Railroad tracks, is shutting down in the middle of its tourist season.
Owner and general manager Neil Bagaus said at least 1,000 ties need to be replaced before the branch between Mount Dora and Tavares, Fla., could meet Federal Railroad Administration standards. Bagaus said the railroad replaced 400 ties at a cost of $30,000, but said it doesn’t have the money to replace the rest. So, let’s see. To replace the 1000 ties, at $75 per tie, they will need about $75000. Almost sounds like a bargin.
“This is our season,” he said. Unfortunately, “we just cannot afford the cost.”
Trains over the main line between Eustis and Tavares and on to Orlando will continue to operate as normal. Those trains include the dinner train, rail rambles, Gunfight at the OK Corral, trips to the Orlando Magic games, and a lunch train.
Mount Dora Mayor Melissa DeMarco said the town plans to look for ways to assist Bagaus restart the train.
West Virginia Rails 2010 will be celebrating 100 years of the railroad built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1910. Steam trains will once again whistle in the deep valleys. Three steam locomotives will be brought in. It has been nearly 50 years since a steam locomotive traveled these rails. This could be the only chance you will have to ride behind a vintage steam locomotive over this line so reserve your place in history by booking your tickets today!