How about that...
This was a great trip and I read a post on facebook that you were considering coming back to Allentown/Bethlehem but couldn't come to an operating agreement for this year. Will you try again in the future? RBMN will probably welcome you back, but what about NS since they ended 21st Century Steam and dropped insurance coverage for excursions? 611 group paid for their own insurance this year. Would NS let you run again? Two NS routes I would have liked 765 to run on are Bethlehem-Harrisburg-Rockville and Harrisburg-Renovo. But with NS no longer sponsoring 765 excursions would be hard to do those now.
Last year news.... time to let it go...
We have no plans to bring the 765 to Allentown this year.
We will not run on the RBM&N this year, either.
Robert K., FWRHS only announces excursions and events when everything is confirmed. No comments about "maybe" situations or "unconfirmed" trips or trips that never got out of the starting gate. And there are some trips every year that don't get out of the starting gate.
I knew you weren't coming back this year because the post I read said so, the post by FWRHS on Facebook said that you couldn't come to an operating agreement this year to return to Allentown and that you had talks with Andy Muller. A guy from Reading, PA started the question about you returning to Allentown in the Galesburg trips cancelled post on fb. Btw, Allentown's economy is better than Reading's, we have a mayor who pushed for new development downtown, you were here last year, if you had time to go downtown you would have seen all the new stuff, PPL Center (hockey arena) new restaurants, etc. Bethlehem also redeveloped parts of the old steel plant where my deceased father worked until early March, 1986. So, I'm guessing the closest 765 ride this year for PA folks will be at the CVSR in Ohio, about a few hundred miles west of me. At least we have the 425 this year, and possibly 2102 next year at the RBMN. Steamtown won't have mainline steam until at least 2020 when the B&M 4-6-2 is finished. Unless you return to Scranton before then and run more 765 trips into the Poconos. We have so many tourist trains in eastern PA, NJ and one in northern Delaware. Although not all of them are running steam right now. 2 of the NJ ones are, and 3 in PA, RBMN, Strasburg, and Everett, and the one in Delaware are all running steam this year. The 611 ride in Virginia was good. I would love a 765/2102 meet someday though. Someday I want to get my butt to the WMSR in Cumberland and ride behind the C&O Mallet.
765 might not be coming this year, but don't forget that the Allentown and Auburn will have steam in Kutztown Pa (Lehigh Valley Coal Company 126) running July 2, 3, 9, and 10. I know it's not 765, but it's a place to get your steam fix.
I was there last year. I also rode the Phillipsburg, NJ steam train twice several years ago. I want to ride the Boyertown train although I missed the steam this year. Maybe Amtrak will run another rare mileage trip out of Philly again in the future.
Not all the time you need to ride behind steam. Sometimes you gotta ride behind the diesels to support the cause. Ride behind a couple diesel trips on RBMN, A&A, W&W, etc and maybe you'll see steam. Never hurts to support a cause to help them get the steam trains out or to the railroad. Btw July 23rd R&N 425 will be out, along with all the foliage trips being announced. From my sources other trips are in the works such as the Pittston Charity run and Schuylkill Haven Borough Days. Also currently in the works for me is to see 765 at CVSR when it goes their, really enjoyed the trip out if Allentown.
