Yes, in case you've been living under a rock, Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam Program is over, and even 611 excursions could be as well. Now Amtrak is banning most excursions that use Amtrak insurance and crews. That includes steam excursions on class 1 freight railroads. The new CEO is making cuts. NS is also getting anti excursion now. Wick Moorman who was pro excursion and steam is retired from NS and Amtrak. There's not going to be very many mainline excursions this year except maybe for ones that were already committed. UP 844 is still running its yearly excursion from Denver to Cheyenne this July. 630 and 4501 are still running on TVRM and on the 102 mile Summerville excursions. CEO changes can cause the end of steam and excursions if the new CEO feels that excursions are not worth the effort or cost the company money. That's what happened in 1994. New NS CEO David Goode wasn't a fan of the steam program and axed it Dec 1994. Wick Moorman is the only reason steam returned to NS in recent years.
|
|
