Amtrak Autumn Express 2015 (Oct 24 & Oct 25)

[AmtrakBlue]

To every one riding today, enjoy. I wish we could do it all again. We so enjoyed the trip and the excellent conversations with fellow riders. We got a special kick out of seeing folks lined up along the route at crossings, bridges, etc. taking pictures. That's usually us. To quote my son, "Mom, we're getting rail fanned so hard right now."

Any mooners? We had one moon us on the original Autumn Express 2 years ago.

 

[railiner]

Just returned to Ohio this morning after a great Autumn Excursion trip. Enjoyed seeing several familiar faces and riding in the car with Penny, Jishnu, Alan & Grace. Alice from California was also a rider in another car. The colors were pretty good, the train ride excellent and another kudo to the Amtrak staff for their friendly attitudes and efficient service. Lots of history that I am interested in on this rail line including the building of the Hoosac Tunnel and the branch lines that served along the way. The Panera Bread sandwich was very good as were the cookies, chips etc. Only disappointment was a lack of souvenirs about this trip other than the nice carrying bag. Did pick up some more pins, and magnets in the souvenir car but Amtrak missed the boat not having T-shirts, pins, hat with the excellent monogram of an Amtrak train coming out of the tunnel .

My return trip on the LSL 48 included a great dinner with Shanghai from Florida but tragedy as well as a freight hit a vehicle somewhere west of Erie and we sat for almost two hours on a siding while they cleared the wreckage. Arrival into CLE this morning at 6 am. Just missed breakfast on the train. But said goodbye to Shanghai and hoping he makes his TE connection in Chicago today.

Sorry we missed Railiner and perhaps some other AU members. I stood as a beacon with my shining Amtrak pins at 7 am hoping other members would be drawn to us..

Had a great time and looking forward to next year

RRB

I am sorry I missed you guys....what car were you riding in? Do you usually ride in the same car?

I was in the first car, on the left side, a couple of rows forward of center, and I had no one next to me...

I like the first car because you can hear the "music" at grade crossings, you have less pedestrian traffic going up and down the aisle's (not so this time, as the concession car was ahead of us), and I can stretch by walking all the way to the rear of the train and back....

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

A train ride, beautiful scenery, and lunch from Panera. Sounds wonderful!

 

[railiner]

To every one riding today, enjoy. I wish we could do it all again. We so enjoyed the trip and the excellent conversations with fellow riders. We got a special kick out of seeing folks lined up along the route at crossings, bridges, etc. taking pictures. That's usually us. To quote my son, "Mom, we're getting rail fanned so hard right now."

Sorry I missed your earlier post....

Welcome to AU!!

Yes...the 'chaser's' provided extra entertainment for those of us riding in the first car....our favorite, was the ubiquitous guy in the dayglo lime jacket in the little white Chevy (Spark?) I believe....he was everywhere....

 

[AmtrakBlue]

To every one riding today, enjoy. I wish we could do it all again. We so enjoyed the trip and the excellent conversations with fellow riders. We got a special kick out of seeing folks lined up along the route at crossings, bridges, etc. taking pictures. That's usually us. To quote my son, "Mom, we're getting rail fanned so hard right now."

Sorry I missed your earlier post....

Welcome to AU!!

Yes...the 'chaser's' provided extra entertainment for those of us riding in the first car....our favorite, was the ubiquitous guy in the dayglo lime jacket in the little white Chevy (Spark?) I believe....he was everywhere....

I think I read about the white Chevy on some Amtrak group on Facebook. :giggle: Can't find it right now, though.

 

[Ryan]

That was Greg Primrose from the NEC Railfans group.

 

[railiner]

To every one riding today, enjoy. I wish we could do it all again. We so enjoyed the trip and the excellent conversations with fellow riders. We got a special kick out of seeing folks lined up along the route at crossings, bridges, etc. taking pictures. That's usually us. To quote my son, "Mom, we're getting rail fanned so hard right now."

Sorry I missed your earlier post....

Welcome to AU!!

Yes...the 'chaser's' provided extra entertainment for those of us riding in the first car....our favorite, was the ubiquitous guy in the dayglo lime jacket in the little white Chevy (Spark?) I believe....he was everywhere....

I think I read about the white Chevy on some Amtrak group on Facebook. :giggle: Can't find it right now, though.

Yeah....the guy sitting in front of me was especially amused by him....he posted something about it on facebook or some blog....

 

[AlanB]

I am sorry I missed you guys....what car were you riding in? Do you usually ride in the same car?

I was in the first car, on the left side, a couple of rows forward of center, and I had no one next to me...

I like the first car because you can hear the "music" at grade crossings, you have less pedestrian traffic going up and down the aisle's (not so this time, as the concession car was ahead of us), and I can stretch by walking all the way to the rear of the train and back....

There were 4 of us in the last coach; Jishnu, Bill, Penny, & I, just ahead of the trailing cafe car with the drumhead.

 

[Agent]

More videos of the Autumn Express are now on YouTube. Here are a couple of them.

The first one is Saturday's train from user CommuterColin0906. They chased the train to shoot it several different places. They also included a couple freight trains.

 

[railiner]

I am sorry I missed you guys....what car were you riding in? Do you usually ride in the same car?

I was in the first car, on the left side, a couple of rows forward of center, and I had no one next to me...

I like the first car because you can hear the "music" at grade crossings, you have less pedestrian traffic going up and down the aisle's (not so this time, as the concession car was ahead of us), and I can stretch by walking all the way to the rear of the train and back....

There were 4 of us in the last coach; Jishnu, Bill, Penny, & I, just ahead of the trailing cafe car with the drumhead.

Well maybe we'll meet next year.....

 

[rrdude]

Great vids you reposted thanx. I'm 0 for 3 on Autmn Express trips. Although I have bought tix each year, I've never gone! I tell ya, the scenery looked great, but it might have been as fun to chase the train, as it was riding it? I've only truly "chased" a train once, some Conrail Executives Special in Michigan, years ago, with Jaimie Serensits. It's fun when you chase with someone who knows what they are doing.

It's been discussed before, but I'd like to raise this topic again, and would love input from current Amtrak employees. IF this Autumn Express DOES break even, and/or more than cover it's costs, and even "make" money for Amtrak, why only one per year?

It would seem that they could hold several of these, in different regions X the country, and the turnout would be similar. (but not do TOO many, or they would dilute the experience...) I have heard, and please correct me if I am mistaken, that some Amtrak employees are non-paid, or volunteer, as car hosts, etc? Yes? No?

Thanx

 

[jis]

The Autumn Express happens because one man took charge of it and runs it essentially as his project. It meets a requirement of PRIIA, and it operates within the rules set down by that law. It would not run if it did not break even (required by the law under which it operates) and make a little bit of money. It is not allowed to operate if it loses money in the net. I don't know for sure, but my impression is that there is considerable volunteer labor involved on the OBS side. It would be difficult to put such a thing together several times without causing greater disruption to day to day operation than this one does.

This year proved an extra challenge because of he Vermonter derailment and the amtrak.com crash at the most inopportune moments. This led to the delay in announcement of the train and eventually even a less broad publicity than is usual. Fortunately in spite of the the trains ran close to sellout, though there were some seats available on each apparently, either due to no shows or something else.

 

[rrdude]

The Autumn Express happens because one man took charge of it and runs it essentially as his project. It meets a requirement of PRIIA, and it operates within the rules set down by that law. It would not run if it did not break even (required by the law under which it operates) and make a little bit of money. It is not allowed to operate if it loses money in the net. I don't know for sure, but my impression is that there is considerable volunteer labor involved on the OBS side. It would be difficult to put such a thing together several times without causing greater disruption to day to day operation than this one does.

This year proved an extra challenge because of he Vermonter derailment and the amtrak.com crash at the most inopportune moments. This led to the delay in announcement of the train and eventually even a less broad publicity than is usual. Fortunately in spite of the the trains ran close to sellout, though there were some seats available on each apparently, either due to no shows or something else.

Thanx JIS, my thoughts on "more" was nothing greater than 5, 6, or 7.....But if it is as you say, "Basically a one man show" when it comes to planning, etc., then it's understandable that that person has all they can handle setting up just one...

 

[neroden]

IF this Autumn Express DOES break even, and/or more than cover it's costs, and even "make" money for Amtrak, why only one per year?

In addition to this being basically set up by one guy, with a fair amount of volunteer labor, the problem of scrounging together equipment and manpower is quite serious.
In peak season (Summer -- May, June, July, August) there is no equipment to spare. In the short peak periods (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Easter) there is also no equipment to spare -- and for Thanksgiving in particular, they pull out everything they've got, which means there's no equipment for the month *before* Thanksgiving as the shops are rushing to get more-than-usual ready to go for Thanksgiving.

So there's a *reason* the Autumn express is running in October specifically! It's probably not possible to set up more than one special in that September-October window.

There's probably some free equipment in late January/February, but I'm not sure what kind of tourist special you could come up with during that period. The terrible weather is usually putting a strain on *track* availability in the snowbelt. With February being the weak season, it would be worth figuring out whether there's some way to run a profitable tourist special circa Valentine's Day. But I think that's really the only other opportunity.

 

[Eric S]

There's probably some free equipment in late January/February, but I'm not sure what kind of tourist special you could come up with during that period. The terrible weather is usually putting a strain on *track* availability in the snowbelt. With February being the weak season, it would be worth figuring out whether there's some way to run a profitable tourist special circa Valentine's Day. But I think that's really the only other opportunity.

Some sort of ski train/snow train, perhaps? Not sure where is would make most sense, just a quick thought.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

How about something farther south in the winter? That's where a whole lot of us will be in January and February if the winters keep up the way they have been.

For example, is there any way to do a day trip to Folkston, Georgia, from somewhere in Florida? Train up and back (and I guess arrange for a shuttle from the nearest train station), with time to look at trains from the platform? (I am being very self-centered here, because I have always wanted to go there but have no clue how to do it on my own.)

 

[Railroad Bill]

Since both Silver trains run through Folkston, and with the amount of freight traffic on the lines there, it might be difficult to arrange an excursion train on that route. But I would agree, it would an interesting day for railfans. Perhaps a run on the former Sunset East line from Tallahassee to Crestview and back would work.. Of course, Amtrak might not want to be reminded of how nice the scenery is in northern Florida

 

[Bob Dylan]

Northern Florida has nice Scenery Bill?

I must have missed it all the times I rode the Sunset Ltd. and drove I-10 and the roads between Georgia and Orlando!

 

[Seaboard92]

Well there is a special in the south this weekend. Salisbury NC to Asheville NC. Not an official amtrak trip. But it's half amtrak stock and half private stock. I've worked it. This year I'm chasing it. The best way to experience excursions is to work them. I worked six 611 trips. And working was better. And chasing is the second way. While it isn't seeing the millage it can be a lot of fun.

 

[neroden]

Wish I could have made it, but medical problems kept me home.

 

[railiner]

I did the online survey they requested. IIRC, last year they asked about interest in several future locations. This year, they didn't mention any specific future locations, but just generic interest in them...such things as whether one would be interested in shorter trips, or longer trips, or one-way trips that don't return to the origin, and trips that would require possibly bus travel over part of the trip....one can conjure up all sorts of excursion's with those factors in mind......

Albany as a 'base' does have some interesting other possibilities....such as going to Binghamton and maybe all the way to Scranton (Steamtown!), but that might require a two day trip, overnite at the destination. I wonder how many would book a trip like that? Another possibility would be the West Shore (the River Line)....

Once those routes are 'done', I would like to see them run the trip out of some other 'base'... a different one every couple of years for variety, and to provide easy access for those who cannot travel far to join them....

 

[jis]

From NY I had once been on an excursion that ran up the east shore of the Hudson to Stuyvesant and then went up the ramp to the Boston Line, crossed the river to Selkirk and then went down the west shore back to Newark. They could alternatively do the cross over to the Boston ine from Albany, or go all the way to Hoffmans to get on the Selkirk Line. It was a very nice trip. I have lots of photos of the non-digitized kind sitting in a box somewhere.

 

[Mike77E9]

From NY I had once been on an excursion that ran up the east shore of the Hudson to Stuyvesant and then went up the ramp to the Boston Line, crossed the river to Selkirk and then went down the west shore back to Newark. They could alternatively do the cross over to the Boston ine from Albany, or go all the way to Hoffmans to get on the Selkirk Line. It was a very nice trip. I have lots of photos of the non-digitized kind sitting in a box somewhere.

The only problem is getting CSX to come on board with the trip, especially with a very congested river line. IIRC, Amtrak had a difficult time in getting CSX to allow them to run the Sunday trip because of the highline being under work curfew, and the B&O was going to be congested.

I would like to see a trip to Bingo from Albany, however, I don't believe there aren't any decent connections to get down there without having to run a locomotive around the consist. I'm not sure if there's much more rare mileage opportunity out of Albany as Amtrak pretty much runs in all directions out of there.

Here are my suggestions for next year, kinda wished Amtrak asked this in the survey! My suggestions are trips out of Harrisburg, which has a lot of potential, and not far from the Philly base:

NS Buffalo Line to Sunbury, and then NS D&H to Steamtown and turn on Steamtown Wye. If there's enough time, allow people to visit Steamtown as part of the $129 fare.

NS Buffalo Line to either Williamsport (Turn on wye at Antlers Industrial Track), or continue to Keating and turn on the Corman Connection if Willimasport would make the trip too short.

NS Lurgan Branch to Hagerstown, MD and Return.

 

[jis]

I would love any of those!

I have no idea whether the excursion that I went on along the Hudson many moons ago is feasible or possible anymore. I can see your point about the difficulties with CSX.

Out of Albany, the only direction Amtrak does not run (other than the old B&M which we did this time) is the NS D&H line towards Binghamton, which would be a very pretty ride too, and could potentially extend to Steamtown over Tunkhannock Viaduct. But that might become too long a trip for a single day.

 

[Railroad Bill]

From NY I had once been on an excursion that ran up the east shore of the Hudson to Stuyvesant and then went up the ramp to the Boston Line, crossed the river to Selkirk and then went down the west shore back to Newark. They could alternatively do the cross over to the Boston ine from Albany, or go all the way to Hoffmans to get on the Selkirk Line. It was a very nice trip. I have lots of photos of the non-digitized kind sitting in a box somewhere.

The only problem is getting CSX to come on board with the trip, especially with a very congested river line. IIRC, Amtrak had a difficult time in getting CSX to allow them to run the Sunday trip because of the highline being under work curfew, and the B&O was going to be congested.

I would like to see a trip to Bingo from Albany, however, I don't believe there aren't any decent connections to get down there without having to run a locomotive around the consist. I'm not sure if there's much more rare mileage opportunity out of Albany as Amtrak pretty much runs in all directions out of there.

Here are my suggestions for next year, kinda wished Amtrak asked this in the survey! My suggestions are trips out of Harrisburg, which has a lot of potential, and not far from the Philly base:

NS Buffalo Line to Sunbury, and then NS D&H to Steamtown and turn on Steamtown Wye. If there's enough time, allow people to visit Steamtown as part of the $129 fare.

NS Buffalo Line to either Williamsport (Turn on wye at Antlers Industrial Track), or continue to Keating and turn on the Corman Connection if Willimasport would make the trip too short.

NS Lurgan Branch to Hagerstown, MD and Return.

I agree that any of those would be a great trip. Since I spend time in the fall at Cresson, PA it would work well into a Pennsylvanian ride over to Harrisburg for those trips.