Friends of 261 put out an email yesterday informing those of us who purchased tickets for the June round trip between Minneapolis and Duluth, that Amtrak had declined the appeal of the trip cancellation. So there will be no trip. I will get a refund of my train fare, but will have to take my beating on our air tickets from Amarillo to Minneapolis.
I'll think of something.
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That sucks. I was planning on coming up and visiting with friends in the area, then ending up in Duluth on Saturday.
It is hard to believe Amtrak made such a major change in service with very little advance notice. Not what I would consider a customer friendly decision.
Tom, if you make the trip, you’re welcome to ride out to the farm with me, I’ll put you up n we can run some trains on the layout. If it’s fall time, we can do some first class pheasant hunting. The new dog will be here next month
Terrible news! I guess I can forget about a 261 excursion in the Chicago/Milwaukee area again.
Amtrak has gone off the deep end, yesterday they removed the dining cars off the lake Shore Limited and the Capital Limited...
Well, there's still plenty to do and see in the Twin Cities.
Twin City Model Railroad Museum
St. Croix River Valley Train Rides
Jackson Street Roundhouse : Explore Minnesota
METRO Blue Line - Metro Transit
METRO Green Line - Metro Transit
wjstix posted:Well, there's still plenty to do and see in the Twin Cities.
Twin City Model Railroad Museum
St. Croix River Valley Train Rides
Jackson Street Roundhouse : Explore Minnesota
METRO Blue Line - Metro Transit
Except none of those can even come close to an operating main line steam locomotive, like #261!
Thanks, fellows. I always enjoy going to the Twin Cities. My grandparents lived at 3452 Nicollet Ave S in the 1950's and have many pleasant memories dating from riding the streetcar downtown to go up into the Foshay Tower observation deck (where I spied a water tank with a Great Northern logo painted on it -- a real foreign line road to a California six year old -- to staying in a suite at the Marriott and watching a Twins ball game through binoculars which I had packed for the train trip.
This air travel reservation was just for the weekend, and I kind of squeezed it into available time, so I'll take the penalty and use the remainder to visit my daughter in the PNW, and go to the Twin Cities when we can stay longer.
Number 90 posted:watching a Twins ball game through binoculars which I had packed for the train trip.
Good old Metropolitan Stadium. Seen the Twins beat up the Tigers there one summer eve in the mid-80's. With the uncertain weather in MN, I much rather enjoyed the comfort of the Metrodome..
Looks like Amtrak is really serious on it's new no excursion policy. There will literally be no mainline steam excursions except for UP 844 from Denver this July, and NKP 765 on Metra in September. Those have nothing to do with Amtrak. And no excursions in general on class 1's, even diesel. The PRR E8 trip from Philly to Altoona this week was denied by Amtrak, too. I guess political pressure is keeping the New River Train running this year. Is there anywhere else 261 can operate without Amtrak? Maybe on a non-class 1 railroad? Everybody is going to hate Rich Anderson now. There is an operating steam tourist railroad in Duluth, though. Couldn't they bring 261 up and run on that someday? Is Anderson directly responsible for the cancellation of these excursions? Did he put the new policy in place since he's the CEO and makes decisions for the company? He's just being a jerk and hurting the railfan community. In his mind, the railfans be dammed. He's just another steam and excursion unfriendly CEO like Hunter Harrison, David Goode, etc. Guess it's time to now visit a steam tourist railroad while the steam is still running. In eastern PA there won't be any special excursions outside of normal tourist railroad routes except for what the Reading and Northern and Steamtown offer, and the smaller tourist lines. NS is now back to its anti excursion self like 1995-2010, and now Amtrak is also anti excursion. That basically kills all mainline charters and excursions, steam or diesel that worked with Amtrak or NS. CSX and BNSF won't allow excursions without Amtrak support, and no steam allowed on CSX. How do the tourist lines cover their butts for insurance? WK&S? Reading and Northern? Strasburg? And with the Ringling circus train gone, there will be nothing unusual on the mainlines except the OCS trains. Just your normal freights and Amtraks. The 100 mainline steam trips a year like the 1960's-1980's will never ever happen again.
Robert K posted:How do the tourist lines cover their butts for insurance?
They buy their own insurance.
Rusty
I just got a reminder that the St. Paul to Chicago round trip will run May 17-21, with the Skytop observation and the Super Dome on the rear of the Empire Builder.
Just remember Amtraks moto....we aren't happy, until your'e not.
It's one thing to stop offering excursions but to cancel one that was already committed to is total BS. Im sure the Friends of 261 will be taking a huge hit on this one. When the E8 trip was cancelled, Keystone Pullman Rail Tours (A group I work with, we own a Pennsy car that was going to be in the consist) took a hit over $3,000. That amount of money is not easy to come by with a small company.
"My grandparents lived at 3452 Nicollet Ave S in the 1950's"
Tom, there's a pretty good chance that my dad, Bob Stixrud, was their mailman! He started with the US Post Office in 1943, working as a mail handler taking mail from the Milwaukee Road and Great Northern stations to the main Minneapolis post office, then went to Europe in the Army for a while, then was a Letter Carrier out of the Lake Street station until he retired in the 1970's. Part of the reason I got into model railroading was that he was the mailman for "the old reliable" Woodcraft Hobby Shop on Lake and Bryant for several years, and got my first trains there.
Maxrailroad posted:It's one thing to stop offering excursions but to cancel one that was already committed to is total BS. Im sure the Friends of 261 will be taking a huge hit on this one. When the E8 trip was cancelled, Keystone Pullman Rail Tours (A group I work with, we own a Pennsy car that was going to be in the consist) took a hit over $3,000. That amount of money is not easy to come by with a small company.
Max, you make it sound as if it was The Friends of 261's fault the trip was cancelled. I think we all know it was Amtrak's fault with their new policy (wherein the BS lies).
The irony is that this trip was to raise funds to install PTC on 261, so it could run on BNSF tracks.
I surprised to hear that Amtrak is still allowing the cars to run to Chicago next weekend.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know how much it costs to install PTC on an engine?
Dan986 posted:Terrible news! I guess I can forget about a 261 excursion in the Chicago/Milwaukee area again.
Well not so fast. The 261 group could always do something similar to what 765 is doing with Metra and the Joliet Rocket now and The Varsity trip in 2016. Not this year obviously but who knows maybe next year? They have their own equipment which is a huge plus. Deadheading out here is what might be an issue? Not sure if they can operate down the old MILW line from Chicago to Elgin or wherever and back? I believe CP owns that track but does Metra have any say on what can operate on that line?
The 261 group has used the old Milwaukee Road line to Ortonville for some trips. It's not an Amtrak railroad. I can't remember the name of the regional who owns it these days, but it's a fair railroad, still signaled, good for about 40MPH. But it has no turning facility for the steam engine and it's hardly a trip that would compare with the two-day Duluth trip. Oh, well, I can wait. I truly believe that Amtrak will reverse its decision in the future, and we will buy tickets for a future Duluth trip.
I'd like to drive leisurely to Minneapolis, following the old Rock Island between Kansas City and St. Paul, instead of rushing up I-35. Maybe the next opportunity will allow for that, and American Airlines can fly without us.
To Mr. Melvin and Big Boy 4005,
I was referring to “hit” as the friends of 261 are losing lots of money here. I am not happy with Amtrak not holding up deals, just like how the E unit trip was cancelled. Please excuse my bad wording!
Robert K posted:Looks like Amtrak is really serious on it's new no excursion policy. There will literally be no mainline steam excursions except for UP 844 from Denver this July, and NKP 765 on Metra in September. Those have nothing to do with Amtrak. And no excursions in general on class 1's, even diesel. The PRR E8 trip from Philly to Altoona this week was denied by Amtrak, too. I guess political pressure is keeping the New River Train running this year. Is there anywhere else 261 can operate without Amtrak? Maybe on a non-class 1 railroad? Everybody is going to hate Rich Anderson now. There is an operating steam tourist railroad in Duluth, though. Couldn't they bring 261 up and run on that someday? Is Anderson directly responsible for the cancellation of these excursions? Did he put the new policy in place since he's the CEO and makes decisions for the company? He's just being a jerk and hurting the railfan community. In his mind, the railfans be dammed. He's just another steam and excursion unfriendly CEO like Hunter Harrison, David Goode, etc. Guess it's time to now visit a steam tourist railroad while the steam is still running. In eastern PA there won't be any special excursions outside of normal tourist railroad routes except for what the Reading and Northern and Steamtown offer, and the smaller tourist lines. NS is now back to its anti excursion self like 1995-2010, and now Amtrak is also anti excursion. That basically kills all mainline charters and excursions, steam or diesel that worked with Amtrak or NS. CSX and BNSF won't allow excursions without Amtrak support, and no steam allowed on CSX. How do the tourist lines cover their butts for insurance? WK&S? Reading and Northern? Strasburg? And with the Ringling circus train gone, there will be nothing unusual on the mainlines except the OCS trains. Just your normal freights and Amtraks. The 100 mainline steam trips a year like the 1960's-1980's will never ever happen again.
You make it sound like the railroads are around just to please railfans, which is entirely false. Sure, none of us are happy with the decision, but Amtrak and other roads want to make money. That's how companies work.
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