Altoona Cutting Back on Railfest

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 9:10 am

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... -back.html

Quote:

An attempt to plan an excursion for last year's Railfest illustrates the difficulty of making those arrangements.

Because the museum had been losing money on mainline excursions in previous years - due to the high cost of renting the Altoona station, a railcar and two conductors from Amtrak - the museum sought last year to run an excursion on a secondary line.

But because that would have required an all-day event, the museum needed railcars with restrooms - unlike the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority cars it used on the mainline trips. Salone couldn't obtain those restroom-equipped cars for the date set.

"It was not anybody's fault," he said last year. "[We] were just shocked how difficult it was."

Last year, the museum shied away from holding Railfest in the museum yard, because of disruptions from survey work for the quarter-roundhouse.

It ended up instead creating a dual-venue event that included the East Broad Top Railroad in Orbisonia, 56 miles away, where there is a regular excursion, and the Horseshoe Curve, which the museum administers. The Curve drew well, but the feel at the EBT was hardly rail-festive.

This year, the yard is going to be an even bigger "mess," because of the quarter-roundhouse construction, so holding Railfest at the museum is out, Salone said.

Article on last year's "lackluster" Railfest: http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... rsion.html

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 10:07 am

It might've worked out better if they had, ya know, promoted it...

The CRHS usually has a presence at Railfest, but last year we skipped it because nobody at the museum seemed to be able to give us a date. Then we heard "Railfest was last week?" It was a real shame too, because we always enjoyed the event, and it got us a lot of exposure.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 12:51 pm

I'll just congradulate the Altoona crew. I'm just glad that they at least tried and put in an effort. They'll get their "brake" eventually!

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 1:50 pm

Umm, they had their "break". A good streak of them, actually.

It was just last year's that wasn't up to par.

wesp · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 3:47 pm

My experience is that sometimes you don't do the same event (theme, format) everyyear. It gives folks a rest and also avoids the conctruction scenario that Altoona is facing at the moment. Of course you need to budget accordingly if the event is a big revenue source.

Wesley

Becky Morgan · **Joined:** Tue Jun 22, 2010 4:22 pm **Posts:** 495

Just a question, definitely not intended as a flame...does anyone know when the Curve and museum will be open? We were up there before Easter and everything was still closed for the season. I don't think the website has been updated with new hours.

bigjim4life · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 10:47 pm

Becky Morgan wrote:

Just a question, definitely not intended as a flame...does anyone know when the Curve and museum will be open? We were up there before Easter and everything was still closed for the season. I don't think the website has been updated with new hours.

According to their Facebook page, they have been talking about the Funicular at the Curve being open (after some repairs), so it's safe to assume that the Curve is open. Plus they're advertising events on the FB page, so...you can check there for yourself if you want.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/page ... 2120850701

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 11:04 pm

I was at the curve last weekend, and the funicular was definitely running, so you're good to go.

It's open from some time in the morning until 4pm.

robertmacdowell · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 5:22 am

Quote:

But because that would have required an all-day event, the museum needed railcars with restrooms - unlike the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority cars it used on the mainline trips. Salone couldn't obtain those restroom-equipped cars for the date set.

Somebody needs to build a "restroom car" that is small enough to be Silk-Road-able, so it can be hauled around the country like Thomas. Wherever someone's built a long excursion with commute coaches, plop it in mid-train, and go.

Becky Morgan · **Joined:** Tue Jun 22, 2010 4:22 pm **Posts:** 495

Well, that would explain no site updates--everything's on Facebook and it's not a public page. I really don't want to sign up for Facebook just to see any museum's or company's site.

David H. Hamley · **Joined:** Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:07 pm **Posts:** 705

The locomotive shop tour was always the feature that drew me to this event. When that went away, so did I.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 1:21 pm

robertmacdowell wrote:

Somebody needs to build a "restroom car" that is small enough to be Silk-Road-able, so it can be hauled around the country like Thomas. Wherever someone's built a long excursion with commute coaches, plop it in mid-train, and go.

You could convert one of the "Heritage" Amtrak baggage cars that will probably come up for sale in the next couple of years as Amtrak starts taking delivery of replacement cars from their recent order. The car does not need to have any vestibules or windows, although probably some kind of passive daytime light source would be a good idea (like skylights), and there would probably be room for the massive amount of retention tanks needed for a "potty car". Might also be possible to placate smokers by making part of the car a smoking lounge (like Amtrak did with some converted "Heritage" 10-6 sleepers for crew members) if you can segregate the HVAC systems.

Dave · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 2:38 pm

Might be a wise idea to build ADA boarding and seating into whatever restroom car you want to include. Kill two birds, etc.

dave

derail · **Joined:** Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:45 pm **Posts:** 142

robertmacdowell wrote:

Somebody needs to build a "restroom car" that is small enough to be Silk-Road-able, so it can be hauled around the country like Thomas. Wherever someone's built a long excursion with commute coaches, plop it in mid-train, and go.

Thats a remarkably good idea, and do-able with former Amtrak cars as Paul already mentioned.

PCook · **Joined:** Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:16 am **Posts:** 2127

I can't envision many organizations being able to pay for cross country shipment of a specialized support car, when some of them are constantly looking for volunteers to drive long distances to support their paid-admission events but cannot even afford to provide any place locally for the volunteers to stay once they get there. Once again it comes down to a question of money, whether from the event organizers, from the pricing of the events, or from donations. Donations are down, event organizers (and particularly for-profit event organizers) would like to have everything done for free, that leaves increasing the pricing of the events, an unpopular option with many attendees.

PC