"Lynchburger" Beats Projections

[rrdude]

The fact is, a "naming contest" could draw add'l interest in the train, as we all know, and the "decider" (God I love that name) should be in the hands of one person, and the winner should get a "trip for a year" (once a week, RT, non transferable)

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

If you wanted, you could hearken back to Virginia's maritime history and call it "Virginia Clipper." Clipper ships were very fast, and the train appears to be competitive with the Driving time if Google Maps is to be believed.

Funny thing, Matt, I kinda think there has been a train with that name in the past. I cannot place it, however, but will try to find it and post if here. Of course it is possible I am just remembering the ship name. Meanwhile I think either that or my previously mentioned Cavalier would be a good choice.

 

[Ryan]

"Cavalier" has a nice sound to it and my vote is for it to be revived.

No freaking way.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

"Cavalier" has a nice sound to it and my vote is for it to be revived.

No freaking way.

Uh oh, I had not thought about it the way I suspect you mean. . :huh:

I think it may be an out of date name not appropriate any more.

Is that it? If so, I will hush and withdraw my nomination.

 

[wayman]

"Cavalier" has a nice sound to it and my vote is for it to be revived.

No freaking way.

Uh oh, I had not thought about it the way I suspect you mean. . :huh:

I think it may be an out of date name not appropriate any more.

Is that it? If so, I will hush and withdraw my nomination.

It's not the Cavalier is out-of-date or has any new meaning ... it's just that the Cavaliers are the sports team of the University of Virginia, the arch-rivals of the Virginia Tech Hokies (You might be able to guess with which side of this rivalry HokieNav's support lies!)

Another odd concern ... if we name this new train the Cavalier, do we set a precedent where the other new Virginia state-sponsored train (to Richmond) will also get a name with a college theme? If it gets named after the sports team of the University of Richmond, then we would have an Amtrak train named ... the Spider!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

"Cavalier" has a nice sound to it and my vote is for it to be revived.

No freaking way.

Uh oh, I had not thought about it the way I suspect you mean. . :huh:

I think it may be an out of date name not appropriate any more.

Is that it? If so, I will hush and withdraw my nomination.

It's not the Cavalier is out-of-date or has any new meaning ... it's just that the Cavaliers are the sports team of the University of Virginia, the arch-rivals of the Virginia Tech Hokies (You might be able to guess with which side of this rivalry HokieNav's support lies!)

Another odd concern ... if we name this new train the Cavalier, do we set a precedent where the other new Virginia state-sponsored train (to Richmond) will also get a name with a college theme? If it gets named after the sports team of the University of Richmond, then we would have an Amtrak train named ... the Spider!

Thanks much for the clarification. I know nothing about sports. I thought I had reopened the American Revolution or something. Again, I had no idea. I am doing well to know the names of teams in Atlanta.

Of course the long ago train originally named the Cavalier would have had no connection with a school. But today is today so, sure, many peope today would make the sports and university conenction.

Again, thanks for clearing it up.

 

[DET63]

(I hope we can come up with a better name than "Lynchburger"!!!)

Fast Flying Lynchburger?

Since Lynchburg is the home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, perhaps the Liberty Flame or the Lynchburg Flame, or maybe the Falwell Flame. Or maybe just the Jerry Falwell. Sure, it would get a lot of liberals' panties in a bunch, but it might get a number of young Religious Right Republicans to support Amtrak.

OTOH, to support the other school there, call it the Lynchburg Hornet.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The Virginian sounds like a classy, compromise name unless ya'll want to call it the Texas Longhorn! :lol:

 

[Ryan]

Thanks much for the clarification. I know nothing about sports. I thought I had reopened the American Revolution or something. Again, I had no idea. I am doing well to know the names of teams in Atlanta.
Of course the long ago train originally named the Cavalier would have had no connection with a school. But today is today so, sure, many peope today would make the sports and university conenction.

Again, thanks for clearing it up.

Sorry, I assume that everyone is as rabid a sports fan as I am.

 

[tp49]

The Virginian sounds like a classy, compromise name unless ya'll want to call it the Texas Longhorn! :lol:

Why would anyone want to name anything the "Texas Longhorn" when the Alabama Crimson Tide is a much better nickname

Even if the Lynchburg in question is in Tennessee (and not actually in reference to the one in Virginia), they would potentially have a locked in corporate sponsor if they named it the "Lynchburg Lemonade" (sponsored by Jack Daniels of course.)

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

The Virginian sounds like a classy, compromise name unless ya'll want to call it the Texas Longhorn! :lol:

Why would anyone want to name anything the "Texas Longhorn" when the Alabama Crimson Tide is a much better nickname

Even if the Lynchburg in question is in Tennessee (and not actually in reference to the one in Virginia), they would potentially have a locked in corporate sponsor if they named it the "Lynchburg Lemonade" (sponsored by Jack Daniels of course.)

Two things: It is true that I know nothing about sports. However, my sister is a University of Alabama graduate and an avid football fan so you can be SURE I recognize "Crimson TIde".

Now, in response to Matt, I said I would try to research the Virginia Clipper name. Their was a BLue and Gray Clipper from Washington to RIchmond. The "blue and gray" could go, obviously. That leaves "Clipper"

as a usable almost-historic name.

My vote is now for Clipper or Virginia Clipper.

I do not want to repeat Hilltopper, that became so negative. Of couse it is primarily just us railfans who remember train names.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Its not surprising that the new trains in Virginia are doing well. Just prior to Amtrak their were still two trains daily each way from Bristol through Roanoke and Lynchburg to Washington via N&W/Southern. They were local remanants of the Birmingham Special and the Pelican. Less that a year before Amtrak started, I traveled from Cincinnati to Roanoke and changed to one of the Bristol Washington trains which arrived in Washington about 4:40 PM. It was a Sunday afternoon and the train was nearly full all the way.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Yes, WAS to Lynchburg has so much potential. At one time there were nine trains a day from New York and/or WAS to Lynchburg and beyond.

There was the Crescent and Piedmont Limited to ATL, Montgomery,Mobile and NOL

The Southerner, same route as today's Crescent,ATL, Birmingham, NOL.

The Washington Atlanta New Orleans Express, the Peach Queen and a nameless local to ATL.

The Pelican beyond Lynchburg to Roanoke,Bristol, Knoxville, Chattanooga, BIrmingham, NOL

The Birmingham Special, same as above but only to BHM (connection in Chattanooga to Memphis)

The Tennessean, same as above to Chattanooga, thence Huntsville and Memphis

That is nine.

Not coming from NY but instead from Norfolk to Cincinnati were the already mentioned Powhatan Arrow, Pocahontas and Cavalier. Via Lynchburg and Roanoke

Good track. It ought to do well.

 

[rrdude]

"The Hokie" would be appropriate given the fair number of Va Tech students that would use the service. HokieNav, what say you?

I was itching do make that suggestion when the naming question came up. I think that the wahoo's up the track a bit might take issue with that, but maybe they should try winning the Commonwealth Cup every once in a while.
More realistically, I'm with Rafi - the Old Dominion or Hilltopper would get my vote.

There is NO WAY Amtrak should use the name "Hilltopper" ever again. Just reminds ANYone with a memory of pork, pork, pork....

No, if, :lol: :lol: :lol: ok I can't type this w/out laffing, "if Amtrak ever were in a position to NOT have to worry about politics...............then I'd agree the Hilltopper would be an appropriate name.

 

[Big Iron]

Probably boring and uninventive, but something tells me it would get named the Virginian.
I question that they'd want to name their "new" train Old anything, to avoid bad press.

Likewise for the Hokie - all it needs to do is be delayed twice in a week, and it'll be the Hokey Pokey from then on.

The Hilltopper too readily brings to mind the former train of the same name, which, while at least reasonably used, brings "pork" too readily to mind.

Didn't Amtrak run a RVR to NYP or BOS train called the Virginian?? Maybe it was the Colonial, maybe both?

 

[SouthernServesTheSouth]

(I hope we can come up with a better name than "Lynchburger"!!!)

Fast Flying Lynchburger?

Since Lynchburg is the home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, perhaps the Liberty Flame or the Lynchburg Flame, or maybe the Falwell Flame. Or maybe just the Jerry Falwell. Sure, it would get a lot of liberals' panties in a bunch, but it might get a number of young Religious Right Republicans to support Amtrak.

OTOH, to support the other school there, call it the Lynchburg Hornet.

It was the Liberty University students that voted in mass for the canidate that defeated Amtrak champion Sharron Valentine.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Luckily, extending the current train much past Roanoke will result in an overnight trip in either direction--something both Virginia and Amtrak want to avoid. So if we see service to Bristol or points west of there, I'm betting it'll most likely be in the form of a new frequency as part of the corridor, which will hopefully have a name by then (I couldn't call that a Northeast Regional train and keep a straight face). So if I had to speculate (and this is just that--speculation), you'd have the current train running Boston/SPG to Roanoke and then another train running Bristol to a major Amtrak gateway (ie connection) city. Richmond would be the obvious choice there, assuming something can be worked out with NS for the LYH-RVM segment.

BOS-LYH is roughly 8AM to 8PM in both directions on the current schedule. Would it make sense for a trip beyond Roanoke to be an extension of existing Northeast Regional trains whose northern end is NYP? (It looks like the only southbound Northeast Regional departing BOS earlier than the LYH train currently goes to NPN, so having an early morning train from BOS extended to southern VA would require adding another frequency at BOS, or perhaps splitting the existing NPN train while doing the locomotive swap at WAS.)

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

"Fares produced $414,000, which was 87 percent more than expected and almost enough to cover the cost of operating the train. Virginia has budgeted a monthly subsidy of $242,000 for the train, but only $48,000 of that will be needed for October, according to figures Page gave the transportation board."

Has Virginia considered asking Amtrak what additional services Amtrak could be providing Virginia for the $194,000 a month that Virginia is willing to spend that Amtrak isn't currently spending? Would it cover the incremental operating costs of extending the train to Roanoke (excluding the capital costs of upgrading the station facilities at Roanoke)?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Really, it's just up to Virginia to give the OK for NS negotiations, platform restoration in RNK, and looking into the possibility of having a stop in Bedford. As far as I can tell, the Bedford station has since been removed, so there may be some work to do there as well.

I would think it would be possible to start initial service to RNK without a stop in Bedford, and add a Bedford stop later, if capital funding were the constraining factor.

It sounds like the minimum capital investment for extending the LYH Northeast Regional round trip to RNK might be simply the construction of a mini high level platform at RNK. Is the number of dollars required for such a platform a small multiple of the $194,000 monthly difference between what Virginia is willing to spend to subsidize LYH service and what Virginia has actually been spending?

 

[wayman]

"Fares produced $414,000, which was 87 percent more than expected and almost enough to cover the cost of operating the train. Virginia has budgeted a monthly subsidy of $242,000 for the train, but only $48,000 of that will be needed for October, according to figures Page gave the transportation board."

Has Virginia considered asking Amtrak what additional services Amtrak could be providing Virginia for the $194,000 a month that Virginia is willing to spend that Amtrak isn't currently spending? Would it cover the incremental operating costs of extending the train to Roanoke (excluding the capital costs of upgrading the station facilities at Roanoke)?

They're not going to be saving $194,000 a month. They saved that much the first month. They may come in under budget overall, but I expect they'll be much closer to the budget by January or February.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Its just Joel and his pie in the sky ideas again. Joel, you oughtta get involved on the transit-advocacy front. Like with the Lackawanna Coalition. I'm sure, though, there are similar organizations in the Boston area.

 

[mkellerm]

A couple of additional observations about the ridership numbers, from various press releases:

* No surprise, but the five largest city-pairs were Charlottesville-DC, Lynchburg-DC, Charlottesville-NY, Lynchburg-NY, and Charlottesville-Phila.

* It appears that about 30-40% of the ridership on the new Lynchburg train was diverted from the Crescent. I haven't seen October numbers for the Crescent yet, so I'm not sure how much of that was made up by additional longer-distance riders.

* On that note, the new train did well over the Thanksgiving week, carrying 3,587 passengers between Nov 24 and Nov 30. During the same time period, Crescent ridership was up 8.7%, suggesting that longer-haul passengers are filling seats vacated by Virginia passengers.

 

[wayman]

* No surprise, but the five largest city-pairs were Charlottesville-DC, Lynchburg-DC, Charlottesville-NY, Lynchburg-NY, and Charlottesville-Phila.

Hey, I'm doing everything I can for the Lynchburg-Phila city-pair! Except that my last ride on 176 was LYH-WAS. Oops!

* It appears that about 30-40% of the ridership on the new Lynchburg train was diverted from the Crescent. I haven't seen October numbers for the Crescent yet, so I'm not sure how much of that was made up by additional longer-distance riders.
* On that note, the new train did well over the Thanksgiving week, carrying 3,587 passengers between Nov 24 and Nov 30. During the same time period, Crescent ridership was up 8.7%, suggesting that longer-haul passengers are filling seats vacated by Virginia passengers.

Yeah, my sense is that the Crescent's loss in VA-ridership is being made up for by longer ridership (WAS-ATL and the like). But I don't have numbers to back that up.

 

[DET63]

(I hope we can come up with a better name than "Lynchburger"!!!)

Fast Flying Lynchburger?

Since Lynchburg is the home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, perhaps the Liberty Flame or the Lynchburg Flame, or maybe the Falwell Flame. Or maybe just the Jerry Falwell. Sure, it would get a lot of liberals' panties in a bunch, but it might get a number of young Religious Right Republicans to support Amtrak.

OTOH, to support the other school there, call it the Lynchburg Hornet.

It was the Liberty University students that voted in mass for the canidate that defeated Amtrak champion Sharron Valentine.

Did they oppose Valentine because of her support for Amtrak, or because of her support for liberal positions (assuming she had them) on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, military spending, etc.?

 

[wayman]

(I hope we can come up with a better name than "Lynchburger"!!!)

Fast Flying Lynchburger?

Since Lynchburg is the home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, perhaps the Liberty Flame or the Lynchburg Flame, or maybe the Falwell Flame. Or maybe just the Jerry Falwell. Sure, it would get a lot of liberals' panties in a bunch, but it might get a number of young Religious Right Republicans to support Amtrak.

OTOH, to support the other school there, call it the Lynchburg Hornet.

It was the Liberty University students that voted in mass for the canidate that defeated Amtrak champion Sharron Valentine.

Did they oppose Valentine because of her support for Amtrak, or because of her support for liberal positions (assuming she had them) on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, military spending, etc.?

My understanding of Liberty University is that it has two litmus test issues -- views on abortion and gay rights -- which determine the school's not-so-subtle "endorsement" to its student body. The university then cancels all classes on Election Day and hires a fleet of buses to take students to polls after offering them voting guides (since many of them are not local).

The issue is not unique to Liberty -- the issue of university students organizing and voting at school, where they are less familiar with local issues and will not remain in the voting district to be represented by whomever they vote for beyond graduation. But Liberty is (1) quite large, and more able to overwhelm locals in election turnout than many schools (I have the sense that most large universities are split up across multiple districts so in no district do students come close to out-representing locals, while in Liberty's case, districts are not drawn this way to the same degree as in most places), and (2) rather unique in the degree to which the university administration facilitates -- almost mandates -- students to vote locally. Basically, the university itself tries to swing elections in its favor so local policies favor the university administration's goals, and because they have an enormous student body essentially "at their disposal", they can achieve this fairly readily.