This is really going to be one hot event, no pun intended. Am very impressed by all the parties involved that they would make this long haul to Illinios. Personally I prefer small steam, but this might just be something to go and witness. If all goes well this will be a great event. Despite my experiences I have never been to something where all the live steam is huge mainline equipment. My 100 ton or less parimeters might get expanded next summer. Very exciting news. Cheers, John.

If this turns out to be phony news, someone owes me for the bruise on the bottom on my jaw and the return of my eyes to their sockets.

This is for real and has been in the works for many months.

Wolf Fengler
SBRHS

http://www.trainfestival2011.com – Official Website
http://www.quadcitieschief.com – Trip Site
http://www.sbrhs.org - San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society Website (3751 owner)
http://www.calzephyrrailcar.com - California Zephyr Railcar Charters

The great news! Seems like if 4449 can do it, why not another? If only 844, 3985, 4449 & 700....Ohh...wishful thinking...

This decision might send me on my way to Rock Island in 2011. Hopefully they'll put that 5 chime back on. I can't stand the 6 chime, it's not loud enough...

Believe me, you will not be the only one, not by a looong shot!

As Wolf points out though, it most certainly is real, just as is anything else that gets posted on the official SBRHS website. Rumor control is something that these guys are very good at, as is their obvious ability to keep something like this under wraps until everything has been finalized (this is also an excellent example of why keeping the "loose lips" effect within one's own organization under control is so important these days, since any rumor can end up traveling on the web literally at the speed of light and possibly ruin a potential agreement before anyone else in said organization even realizes what's happened). They consequently will not post any information on an upcoming event unless and until all arrangements have been completed and confirmed.

I'll feel better when I see a BNSF news release posted.

They are about a month behind on their press release postings.

So if anybody at SBRHS is watching, that's the acid test from me here. I've never doubted the ability of either organzation to do it, but lawyer-shaped derails keep getting spiked down in the darndest places.

There's another entity - Amtrak - that also has the proven ability to turn what was imagined by the parties involved to be an agreement into a court case at the last moment. So I'll just feel better when I see the big guys involved here figure out how to take all the credit and promote it as their own.

When the railroad and Amtrak take on these special movements like steam locomotive excursions, the railroads and their employees usually have very little to gain and a whole lot to lose. Their payoff is very little compared to the nuisance to their operations and the risks involved. There are a whole lot of unsung heroes that spend a lot of extra time and energy that is not in their normal job description. These people are human and when they read and hear(and they do) about remarks like the above, I don't believe it encourages them to stick their neck out and work to get these excursions to happen. I know this is a discussion forum, but I think we all should consider whether we are helping or hurting the possibility of these things occuring by our remarks. I know, personally, that I appreciate constructive criticism and legitimate complaints when our service has fallen below our own standards, but sarcasm has absolutly no positive effect on our efforts to run excursions.

Ed Selinsky

Ed is 100% right. These special moves take a TON of effort on the part of lots of folks who already have a plate full and are asked to go out of their way in order for these operations to succeed.

Also, as has been amply demonstrated in the recent past the Class 1's do monitor this site and snarky comments don't do any of us any good!!

Hopefully a word to the wise!!

Ross Rowland

In that case - I LOVE the Class 1's, especially those that allow such wonderful steam movements across their lines!!!!! :)

Well said.

There's also the "loose lips" effect to consider; even though the excursion route(s) and the beginning and ending dates have been determined, there are probably still a ton of details which still need to be worked out (and which probably cannot be finalized this far in advance) and it's very likely that neither BNSF nor Amtrak will make any announcements until most of those details have been taken care of. It's also quite likely that BNSF and Amtrak have decided to let the parties that are actually organizing these events make all of the announcements, partly for the above reason and possibly also to avoid releasing redundant and/or confusing information.

I'll second that, and I'd like to point out that it isn't just the Class 1 railroads who are watching what's said here and on related websites; regional roads, shortlines, industrial operators and railroad contractors, railroad manufacturers and suppliers, government agencies and officials, politicians, and just about anyone else who has an involvement in or influence on railroading and anything related to that subject also pay attention to the posts here and on other railroad-related websites, and, quite frankly, far too many of those comments give those folks a rather negative impression of those of us who are "not in their shoes" (particularly when some of those posts are made by people who really don't know what they're talking about!!). Can't say that I blame 'em, since I don't like any of those remarks either!

Just remember, folks:

If you put something on the Web, anyone can see it and you will often not be able to remove it before any damage is done, so think very carefully before you post here or anywhere else. You might not suffer any negative consequences, but that doesn't mean someone else won't!

No sarcasm intended, and I apologize if it reads that way. It is absolutely part of the equation (because of the risks involved) to make sure that the hosting entities get to fully participate in the PR announcements and take credit - and yes, brand it. When I've seen problems, it's been because they were forgotten, sometimes ignored, and not considered to be a full (and at-risk) partner.

There are full media departments that take a great deal of pride in special moves and public events and need to harvest all they can from them. I'm just hoping that in this case the observation is the delay factor in the media response of their own entities. There's another special move/operation that had to wait, and wait, and wait until it was the right time for its own Class 1 partner to be ready to announce publicly, and that sure took a lot of patience.

I'm glad to see the credit on the webpage as BNSF and Amtrak as sponsors to the event and fully acknowleged, that sure helps. You can't force people to get their own press releases out there.

When special moves & events are done right, this is the kind of posting I'd expect in the media departments - but this was May.
http://www.bnsf.com/media/news-releases ... 5-26a.html

The biggest puzzle to me is that BNSF is 30 days behind on everything, not just this....

BNSF had to sign off on the event as they are partial property owners in the yard, so happily they've been involved since nearly day one.

Keep in mind that while Jason and Company need to build momentum and buzz for this as the time grows near, BNSF and Amtrak can afford to wait until timing is right or when its convenient.

If you spring your PR too early without additional follow up items to add to it, people forget about it. In this case, Amtrak and BNSF have all the time in the world to recognize this, especially since National Train Day isn't for a few months.

KL