According to their website it is.

Their trips in the height of tourist season sell poorly (from personal experience and this board's claims), and this one in the dead of winter sells out?

Did they do something different?

JPS

Just a note on terms--the Interchange as a whole does not 'claim' anything, only individual posters do. It's a subtle distinction, but one that's very important to your hosts.

"Claims I have heard on this board" would have been more suitable.

Hello All

From what I've been told this Saturday's excursion is sold out, though if you're passing through the area, you can always roll the dice and see if there are a few no-shows. When I worked selling tickets there in my previous life, there were always a few no-shows even during the busiest times.

Power is scheduled to be the CN 3254. The Tobyhanna Trips usually do pretty well and are well worth the fare. I'm not sure how a recent freeze/thaw cycle and some nasty ice storms will affect the ability to actually harvest Ice at the Tobyahnna demo though, but the trip is scheduled to run either way.

Just what I know from the dispatcher's desk.

Dave Crosby

This train sold out because there is a finite amount of seats, about 250, perhaps 320, since not all the steam heated coaches are road worthy this year. No first class, either, because that car would cut off steam from the engine during the return, as it has electric heat.
A temporary steam heat line was added to the nose end of the 3254 so heat can be used in both outbound and return trips. This locomotive was built as a freight engine, and didn't have a steam line until restoration, perhaps by the Gettysburg RR.

Head end steam connections were rare even on passenger steam engines. CNJ had steam at both ends of some of their camelback 4-6-0's and the double-enders (2-6-2T and 4-6-4T) had steam at both ends.

Of course, the Tobyhanna train will include some CNJ cars and starts near the old CNJ (CRP) Scranton station. And Steamtown has a CNR double-ender (4-6-4T #47)

Might as well jump in on this, too. They DID do something different: they're running a one-time trip in midwinter. With a steam engine. And something to do when you get there.

They've done this before, CP 2317 hauled the train instead- think it was about 5 years ago?

Joshua

Mr. Mulligan makes good points. As a frequent critic of S'town, I think it's important to encourage them when they do something positive and running steam in mid winter is certainly that! While it's true that the "sell-out" needs to be kept in perspective(it's only a 4 car train with a "give-away" fare) it's still a major undertaking to execute successfully if they should hit real winter weather, and having something fun to do at the turn around point certainly adds to the appeal. Let's hope it goes well and that maybe on future trips they'll get up the courage to do some photo-run-bys so as to give those who patronize the excursion a chance to photograph and enjoy the train as those who only chase now do!
Ross Rowland

I don't know what the weather has been like in Tobyhanna recently, but 60 miles away in New Jersey there has been a lot of nearly-60-degree weather lately, including more scheduled for this week. The lake in Tobyhanna may not be frozen at all. I would assume the ice-cutting will be re-scheduled to President's Day weekend in February.

Also, are you sure the return trip will be steam-hauled? When I rode in October (when the weather was colder than it has been recently) the return trip was diesel-hauled (as I recall).

Chris.

I'm not sure about the ice either. Monroe County has had a couple of ice storms, and forecast tonight is 4-6 inches snow before a change to rain. This week-end will be cold. Maybe Dave can have the Pocono Main crews report what they see up there in Tobyhanna.

If they're putting a head-end steam line on the engine, they're planning to use it in both directions.

I second that motion.

One of the most spectacular set of runbys I've ever seen in my life was during a winter trip on the same line to the same destination with 261 outbound and 2317 returning. During the layover at Tobyhanna, some of us went to the ice-cutting demonstration (which was something I was already familiar with), while the others stayed to watch the changeover from 261 to 2317. Then, blessed with ten-degree-F temps, big blue skies with light, frigid clouds, and lots of steam, 2317 undertook a couple high-speed runbys with a mile or more of acceleration. It was as close as I was going to get to Quebec or Ontario in the winter of 1955.

Heck yeah, ADM. Not only was I trackside that weekend, I did a series of digital audio recordings of those runbys.

And then I fell through ice into a swapy mess.

And on Sunday, my audio engineer erased all of Saturday's tapes.

What a weekend!

Hey guys ,
Don`t forget No. 261 did a snow plow trip in 1996 with runbys. and snow on the ground. I was there for that trip riding in the tool car.

Len

Anybody know if 3254 will be head out,Scranton to Tobyhanna, I would think so due to the steam heat connections.

Sometimes Steamtown sends a diesel NKP 514, of a DL Alco along for extra power doubleheaded on the train. Other times the diesel follows behind.

Ed K. cp. Laurel Run