2019 Winter Park Ski Train

[PaulM]

Unless skiers are by nature masochistic, the Winter Park Ski Express must be a boon for Winter Park Ski Resort.  I just received a text from my son stuck in a long line in the parking lot at Loveland Ski Resort just trying to get onto I70 to head back to Denver .

 

[tim49424]

Doesn't the Pere Marquette use a cart for it's cafe service?

No

 

[Rover]

The tracks are on different grades, so a flat platform can access Superliner equipment on one side and RTD’s EMUs on the other. Tracks 4 and 5 are for Amtrak, without catenary and raised trackbeds, while tracks 1-3 and 6-8 are electrified for RTD. Right now track 1 is used for the airport service and track 8 for the Westminster trains (A and B lines). Supposedly the G line to Wheat Ridge will open soon, and will use track 7; the signage is already installed. It is a very well-planned design, both the tracks and station building, and hopefully will serve Denver well as the RTD continues to expand the system in the coming years.


The CZ was just the vessel to get the ski train set out to Denver. They are seperate trains. The Winter Park station is on the CZ’s route, but served only by the ski train; the CZ stops in the town of Fraser a few miles west. 5 seems to have lost about 40 minutes at Denver for splitting the train, but that is the only time its schedule will be affected until it’s time to bring the ski train set back east in the spring.

I watched a promotional video from 2017 that seemed to imply the Winter Park Express went to Fraser. So my question is this, after the Express lets off the passengers at the Winter Park Base, where exactly does the train go to wait until it's time to be at the landing for the passengers to board for the return trip to Union Station?

 

[railiner]

I watched a promotional video from 2017 that seemed to imply the Winter Park Express went to Fraser. So my question is this, after the Express lets off the passengers at the Winter Park Base, where exactly does the train go to wait until it's time to be at the landing for the passengers to board for the return trip to Union Station?

I can't say how it is done today, but in the old days, the train went to Tabernash, wyed, and waited there until time to spot at Winter Park for the return trip.

 

[DSS&A]

The 2019 Ski Train broke ridership records this year and the lounge car was stated to be a contributing factor along with great snow!!!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.de...ter-park-express-ski-train-riders-record/amp/

 

[Amtrak706]

The 2019 Ski Train broke ridership records this year and the lounge car was stated to be a contributing factor along with great snow!!!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.de...ter-park-express-ski-train-riders-record/amp/

I thought special trains were a nuisance and a drain on the bottom line?

/s

 

[MARC Rider]

Yikes. That is pretty pathetic. What is the point in offering that limited a menu? It’s not hard to stock the standard frozen pizzas and cup noodles for people who might want a more filling snack before or after a day out on the slopes.

The menu has beer, wine, and munchies. That's all a real skier needs after a day on the slopes. The fact that you're on the train and not driving just adds to the attraction of the menu. When they get into Denver they can pour themselves out of the train and find a real restaurant.

 

[chakk]

I thought special trains were a nuisance and a drain on the bottom line?

/s

I think the Amtrak top brass is complaining more about adding cars to an existing regular train. Although they did block the special train in the New River Gorge this year.

So it may be perhaps because the Ski Train already had a contract for 2019? We shall see if the Ski Train can return in 2020.

 

[Seaboard92]

Amtrak didn’t block New River Train 2019. The issue was they ran us out of business in 2018. Of course we made some poor choices as well in 2018. When we knew we were losing money we should have cancelled.

We also could have also changed food service for first class into prepared off train like Panera. Then we could have had another 3 cars potentially another 150 seats. Of course cutting the Tioga Pass and using the Cedar Rapids would have brought in another 24ish seats with a far shorter deadhead. So there were some mistakes we made. But Amtrak did not help

 

[Thirdrail7]

I thought special trains were a nuisance and a drain on the bottom line?

/s

You may have thought that but Amtrak never said that. I suggest you take a peak at the memo again and focus not on the rhetoric but on the intent and specific phrase "one time:"

https://discuss.amtraktrains.com/th...-18-memo-fr-anderson.72614/page-2#post-746639