http://fortwaynerailroad.org/2016/06/ga ... -annulled/

Dear passengers, supporters and friends -

Our operations have experienced a tremendous amount of success throughout the years, but ticket sales for the GALESBURG ZEPHYR have been less than satisfactory. While interest in these trips has been meaningful, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our excursions on June 25th and 26th.

Starting immediately and continuing throughout the next few days, we’ll be refunding ticket purchases as per our refund policy and offering all customers a 10% discount on an equivalent ticket for any future excursion sponsored by our organization. Customers will be able to use their unique order number to redeem this discount. Customers should start to see the refunds reflected in their account by Wednesday of next week.

We have enjoyed over 44 years of success because we have committed ourselves to providing outstanding experiences for the general public and by treating the operation of the steam locomotive no. 765 like the business that it is.

Operations like these take months - if not years - of planning and logistical work. The cost of providing these excursions is significant.

We announced these operations within 30 days of their planned execution, which is very unusual for us. Eager to take advantage of new opportunities for the 765 once the commitments from our partners were secured, we proceeded, knowing that time was short but excited to offer this unique experience to our fans in addition to our other recent operations in Chicago.

The decision to cancel these trips in no way reflects the cooperation, interest or willingness of our various partners, who we look forward to working with again. It reflects wholly our desire to protect the financial future of our organization and the longevity of steam locomotive no. 765.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause for our passengers and supporters.

We are confident that with additional lead time and unique promotional opportunities that future planning can afford us, we will return to the Chicagoland area and thrill thousands more with the sights and sounds of the 765 and our historic train.

We thank you for your patience, understanding and continued support.

That's a shame. People sometimes don't understand that you can't run trips at a loss.
That was one of the several reasons for 1522's retirement.

There's always next year.

Are there currently any steam engines in mainline excursion service that have been running "longer" than the 765? which started running excursions in 1980.

The only ones I can think of are the 844(4) and 4449, but both rarely run anymore.

Note that the 611 doesn't make the list because it didn't start running until 1982.

Also, this is not the first time the 765 has been involved in an excursion that was cancelled, I can think of one case where it was running for the SR and the trip didn't run because of a railroad strike in the early 1980's and one other case.

Bob H

4501 and 630?

You guys showed EXCELLENT business sense by knowing your costs, seeing that it was not going to work, cutting your losses, giving refunds, and not ranting.

You built new, professional business relationships with Amtrak, BNSF, and Metra and didn't let emotion distract you.

And you showed CLASS in the way you handled it.

That should pay dividends for the 765 group in the future.

plan for it next year now...8-D

any of the reading engines, 2101, 2102, 2100? tho one may have been on a local line than mainline.

4449 was on the freedom train and may have done excursions back then.

4501 started running excursions in 1966, but has not been in continuous service.

No T-hog (Reading 21XX T1's) has had anything remotely resembling "continuous service" hauling excursions. They've all spent lots of time on the bench at some point. If you're willing to overlook long lapses, 2100 and 2102 will both be contenders soon if things go well.

765 had a 13 year hiatus, same amount of time it sat at Lawton Park, aside from that its seen active service.

Come to think of it, I think 2102 ran almost every year up until 1991. I guess you could say that it ran a relatively large amount after retirement.

I wouldn't say 2102 ran almost every year to 1991. The Rambles ended in 1964. It was bought by Steam Tours in 1967 and moved to Akron, where it sat until 1968, then ran a few trips in Michigan and out of Chicago. Then it came back to Akron for two trips on the AC&Y in April of 1971. After that, the next thing it did, and I'm not sure if it was 1971 or '72, it ran out of Ronceverte, WV on the C&O Greenbrier Sub to Cass and Durbin for a season (hard to imagine a T-Hog on that piece of railroad). Then it was taken to PA, I don't think it ran again before '74 or '75, and ran some trips on the P&LE to Brownsville, PA. Then it ran two successful solo trips over Horseshoe Curve in October '76, then solo trips from Kent, OH to Greenville, PA over the EL, and then the disastrous double-headers with GTW 4070 in May of '77. After that, and the bankruptcy of Steam Tours, I don't think it ran again until 1985 or '86 under Rails Diversified ownership. When it got back to Reading for some trips, the BM&R then bought it, certainly by 1987, and it was the star of their 1988 railfan weekend.

Paul, the best 2102 timeline I know of can be found here:
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/northern/?page=pr

That said, it's also missing a few trips during the 70's, I recall runs on the P&LE as well as several trips over PC to Altoona (both of which you mentioned as well) before the ill fated doubleheader. Your timeline is mostly complete, but missing the D&H and Shawmut runs.

That's right, I forgot about the pseudo D&H 4-8-4 trips to Montreal, in what 1973?

"D&H 302" trip, Albany to Montreal and return, April 1973.

Howard P.