Saw this on the VRS/Rutland discussion board, from Scott Whitney, a VRS employee:Today [Saturday] will be the biggest ever VRS passenger day. We have trainsets in six different locations! The three regular trains will be operating in Burlington, Bellows Falls and White River and three extras will be operating in Rutland and also from St. Albans and Montpelier Jct on the NECR to Essex Jct for their Rail Days festival. We're stretched pretty thin today folks!(VRS is Vermont Rail Systems, comprising the Vermont Railway, Green Mountain RR and Washington County RR. The first two are remnants of the Rutland Railway, the latter line is the former Canadian Pacific route between Newport and White River Jct., all in Vermont. VRS is a for-profit freight hauling railroad system, but operates the passenger trains as an extra source of income.)

Would anybody else like to see them run steam on some of these trips? Seems unnatural for there to be no steam in the entire state of Vermont. Maybe someday.

[quote="Stephen Hussar"]Would anybody else like to see them run steam on some of these trips? Seems unnatural for there to be no steam in the entire state of Vermont. Maybe someday.[/quote]Is there steam available to run in Vermont?

VRS used Susquehanna's Chinese 2-8-2 on a few trips in the summer of 1998, but they apparently were not patronized well enough for a repeat. The 2-8-2 was already in the state at the time for a movie filming on the Green Mountain Railroad. I got to ride the cab on one trip, which brought brief employment with the Vermont Railway, and I turned the engine on the Burlington turntable a few days later, the only time I've worked with an active steamer for pay..Interestingly, these recent excursions were free, paid for by the State of Vermont, per this from the VRS/Rutland list:YES ,THE TRIPS ARE FREE AND THE STATE PAYS FOR THEM, ALSO YOU GET AFREE LUNCH,IT IS CALLED RAIL DAY, IT IS IN DIFFERENT, LOCATIONS IN THESTATE , IT IS ALSO AN AWARD TO SOME ONE WHO IS AN ADVOCATE OF RAILSERVICE, YOU HAVE TO SIGN UP WITH RAIL TRANSPORTATION DEPT, CHECK OUTTHERE WEB SITE, UNDER STATE DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION.PAST PICTURES AREPOSTED