Record Set on Final Trails & Rails Run on Southwest Chief

[rtabern]

Thought all of my friends here would enjoy this article... we had a 14-year-old girl set the record for the most NPS Junior Ranger badges earned... this took place today aboard our LAST Trails & Rails program on the Southwest Chief from Chicago to La Plata.

http://www.aprhf.org/2015/07/19/ultimate-junior-ranger-rides-along-on-last-trails-rails-trip/

If you have ever enjoyed the Southwest Chief Trails & Rails program between Chicago and La Plata, I strongly encourage you to write and show that support to the National Coordinator of Trails & Rails, Jim Miculka, at jemiculka@ag,tamu.edu AND his boss, Don Wollenhaupt, at [email protected], at the National Park Service in Atlanta.

 

[J-1 3235]

Great story, Rob, thanks for sharing it with us.

Sorry to hear the NPS cancelled the program on the Chief.

While I have enjoyed many T&R presentations over the years, the program you created was top notch! Thank you!

Mike

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

Oh boy . thats been axed too! . thats a shame. they where allwas making good use of that minibar upstairs.

 

[Bill]

Oh boy . thats been axed too! . thats a shame. they where allwas making good use of that minibar upstairs.

Yuppers I agree..it was some interesting talk.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Robert, I wrote a letter to the two individuals you mentioned in the story and hope to receive an explanation as to why the program was cut.

Sorry to hear about this and hope the programs will be restored soon.

 

[rtabern]

Robert, I wrote a letter to the two individuals you mentioned in the story and hope to receive an explanation as to why the program was cut.

Sorry to hear about this and hope the programs will be restored soon.

Thanks for your support. Our Trails & Rails program between Chicago and La Plata, MO was co-sponsored by the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF), a non-profit 501©(3) rail history organization in La Plata. They covered more than $30,000 worth of hotel rooms for our volunteers during their layover and provided thousands more for our speaker system and other handouts, etc. After almost three years on the route, Jim Miculka with the National Park Service approached us and said that the non-profit could no longer be a sponsor. They cited a "conflict of interest" but wouldn't explain what that was!! Just amazing. I am hoping Amtrak will step in here and do something here, or that people who have enjoyed our program will write to the two NPS individuals involved in making this decision apparently. It's sad... my wife and I resigned as Coordinators... and now the program is "temporarily suspended until further notice"... Just another thing people love that is being cut for no reason at all. Hopefully if there is a big response we can be back on the train someday. Our final program was this past Sunday on Train #4. (This whole thing didn't totally surprise us, as I was a volunteer on the Empire Builder Trails & Rails program from CHI-MSP from 2006 to 2010. We got out program cut back then too and replaced with MSP-based volunteers with pretty much no explanation at all).

 

[amtrakwolverine]

This whole thing smells fishy. Something is up.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sorry to hear this Rob and Kandace! Sounds political, have ya'll touched base with your Congressional Rep and Senators, perhaps they help find out what's going on!

Any possibility of doing a CHI- STL/STL-KCY route on the Lincoln and River Runner Trains?

I too wrote them, but being from Texas they probably lined the circular file with my letters!

Good luck, keep us posted! Jim

 

[rtabern]

A number of other programs have been "suspended" too... take a look at the list:

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/506/41/Trails-Rails-2015-Schedule.pdf

Included is another route to Missouri!!!! People need to write to the NPS and Amtrak and tell them to keep the SOUTHWEST CHIEF Trails & Rails on the trip from CHI-LAP... and the other "suspended" routes!