I sincerely feel for ADM IV this week.

All the good April Fool's Jokes for 2011 are being taken away by that old devil Mr. Reality (and Mr. Moorman and Mr. Rowland).

:-)

Rob

I don't care who ya' are, that thar is funny!

The convention mainline steam trips, the WV Railfest, Sierra 3 returning to Steam and now this. It's been a good 7 days!

Am I the only one dreaming of watching John and Barney take #75 up Saluda?

Here is a link to a youtube of 630 on the Southern in 1976: http://www.youtube.com/user/lovetoseest ... soE1Ro6yXQ

I better get at least SOME comment in before my ISP goes down again for the third day in a row......

Let's point out that the operative words here are "LIMITED Program".

We don't have details yet. They're no doubt still being worked out. Chill out and await further details--unless you have a passenger car to lease or sell them, of course.

TVRM has a good track record with NS with regards to mainline operations, but in a limited capacity--those one-weekend out-and-back excursions out of Chattanooga, which became in effect the "spiritual" heart of the old NS excursion program. But out-and-back day trips with 610 or 630 is not the same--economically, market-wise, or dramatically--as 611, 1218, or 2716 with a 15- to 20-car train going to such far-flung places as Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, New Orleans, Alexandria, or Roanoke. (Or, for that matter, Horse Shoe Curve.)

In no way or shape whatsoever can I criticize or find fault with whatever NS finally does, even if it only amounts to a couple out-and-back excursions out of Chattanooga. But there would have been no need for NS to issue a Twitter tweet, Facebook announcement, e-mail, and press release if they didn't have their own eyes on something bigger, better, and more dramatic. Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Please, for the love of George Stephenson, let's NOT have five thousand foaming steam nuts badgering NS with "suggestions" and "demands" as to how to go about this. Just send them thanks, offer your name for their future e-mail list for tickets, and sit back and let them figure out for themselves the best way to approach this. By now, I wouldn't give a dang if we ended up with NKP 765 in carnival colors, as long as we get a good show again. (And, heck, the carnival colors would do away with all those e-e-e-e-e-vil parasitic train chasers, now, wouldn't they? Right? After all, no one chased that reprehensible-looking gaily-painted Reading 4-8-4 in 1977 and 1978, right?)

About 1981, I rode a NRHS chartered train to ConRail's Lucknow Welded Rail Plant near Harrisburg. We returned via Enola yard - through a departure yard and over the hump in the wrong direction! My seat mate was an official of a duPont chemical plant in West Virginia. When a fan on the other side of the aisle explained what those terms meant and how unusual it was to have an a Amfleet train running there, he exclaimed, "If ConRail's yards are safe enough for a passenger train, then I guess their main lines are safe enough for my traffic!" Someone else had overheard on railroad radio that track crews had spiked and unspiked the yard switches before and after the train. I'm sure that even in 1981 dollars, the revenue from even 1 extra chemical car would pay for the track crew's overtime.

Apparently you don't follow NS on Facebook, where they (wisely) started a thread today about what steam locomotives you would like to see. Using social media to fire up the base is good marketing.

They asked for opinions, and if you read the responses, they are receiving them in a relatively foam-free fashion.

Hopefully, those who would foam and badger directly are not part of the RYPN community.

Rob

Was that the trip from Newark powered by a pair of B23-7's? I was on that one. During the 1980's Conrail had great PR and new how to combine media events with railfan interest to make great press.

Rob

I doubt it. No doubt, it is good timing, but it appears this has been in the works for sometime, and I heard rumours as recently as about 2 weeks ago to possibly expect some sort of announcement--which was before the 734 thing went down. Of course, even yesterday, who would have believed it??? Personally, I threw it in the "take this with a bag of salt" file. Glad to be wrong for once!

Now, who wants to be in line for tickets on the first excursion? Sounds like there will be plenty of time for picture taking later. It would be most impressive for the railfan community that supported these trips so much in the past could sell out the first train by themselves.

As happy as everyone is right now, people buying tickets for excursions are needed much more than mile-long chase lines (not that this 2nd part won't happen, but...). Hopefully, the south hasn't forgotten the steam program. It has after all been fifteen years. Let's all make sure it doesn't die an early death due to lack of support.
Kevin

I can't imagine a week where the management and philisophical differences about the same issue have been brought into clearer focus for all of us.

For years I've been reminding people how personal the support for any kind of enthusiast-based is, and it starts at the top. Doesn't end there, but the 'word gets through' the organization, and everybody falls into line. Never mind the actual facts, it's the PERCEPTION, and it is echoed and repeated through the structure. We, as enthusiasts, often argue on the facts when you may as well not bother as the facts are defeated by perception. The 734 issue last week is just a classic, and now this.

Now, if we were all willing to march to Jacksonville with torches and nooses, are we willing to help NS benefit from this decision? Let's not let them down as a community. We have an opportunity here, lets not blow it. We need to rise, as an enthusiast and historian-supported community, to the expectations that this will not turn out to be a big mistake, and a lot rides on it, pun intended, for us and them, even if it is a 'limited' program. Where we can, as a community, support NS in this decision, we need to do so, for the entire future of everything historic on Class 1's (excursions, movement, support, even acknowledgment that we exist) may hinge on it. There's personal and public thanks involved.

Obviously this has been in planning for a while and took a great deal of discipline to control it so well that it was almost received as a prank.

I'm not necessarily shocked, as I've heard Mr. Moorman speak, but the actions here are just deafening!

If I were a betting man, I would say this new NS program will resemble CP's current program. A handful of trips a year, mostly 12-15 cars with diesels.

The wording on that thread is a bit sly. It asks people which engines they are most excited to see ... not which ones they would LIKE to see.

And the foam fest is starting. Several suggested C&O 614. That's not going to happen. NS won't put a CSX predecessor locomotive out on their railroad. If they are looking for other engines to run, no doubt it will have to be a NS heritage engine.

Quite a few suggestions for 1361 already starting to crop up. If NS has any future aspirations to expand the program into the Northeast, that would seem to be one of the most logical choices. 1361 is a predecessor engine. It is based in PA, which is very supportive of freight rail from a governmental standpoint. It was built in Juniata, home of NS's "other" big locomotive shop. It's big enough to pull a decent size train, yet versatlile enough to roam the Northern region with little problems.

Maybe Wick can be convinced to have NS pick up the tab for the rebuild, in exchange for them using it as part of their program.

I know ... wishful thinking, but one can dream ...

This just in:

NS has just issued another press release.............

Everybody who has ever referred to the railroad with the term "Nazi Southern" on online forums and websites is hereby "blacklisted" from any and all future NS excursions.

[wakes up from nap]

Gad, WHAT a WONDERFUL dream I just had..............

Some musings...

I understand that the initial area for excursions is Chattanooga. I don't understand two things:
(1) 2-8-0s and a 2-8-2...everything I've read about NS's earlier steam program indicated that locomotives of this type just weren't right for mainline steam. Branchline rambles, maybe, but not mainline. Am I missing something, or are lessons of the past forgotten?

(2) One of the things I remember hearing about the end of NS's first steam program was essentially that it was too hard on operating personnel, etc. Whether or not I agree with that doesn't matter...but have things (other than senior leadership) changed that much since then? Granted, the earlier program was far more extensive, but other than the demands on the steam/train crew itself, I can't see what the demands on the rank and file would have been.

(3) What about the oft-heard taboo nature of friction bearings?!

When my then-fiancee and I were dating, the first operating steam locomotive she ever saw was 611 in Roanoke...then we ended up getting married on June 11 (6/11). One year later, we were signed up to be car hosts on a 611 excursion out of Richmond, VA, when the infamous bump in the Lynchburg yards canceled those Richmond excursions (and ultimately, the whole program). Nice to see this new chapter opening-but I can't wait to see how it evolves (if it does).