Think outside of the box

With METRA's money issues, even that commuter system may lose its status as a Jurassic Park; no where is safe.

And those are the issues:  having a Jurassic Park, and having the money to pay for it all, including insurance.  Fares could become so high that most could not ride.

Yogi Berrea once said, "It is not over, until it is OVER."  We are at or close to the, "...until it is OVER," part.

Be patient.  The current regime at Amtrak will only last a couple of years at most.

Mr K.

Perhaps you should seek a job with one or some of these excursion railroads.  Clearly you've got a lot of great ideas that they can't possibly have thought of.

Tom is right.  These administrations change with each new executive.  Attitudes and climates change.  No need to go "Chicken Little" on it.

Byrdie posted:

Mr K.

Perhaps you should seek a job with one or some of these excursion railroads.  Clearly you've got a lot of great ideas that they can't possibly have thought of.

Right! Just another post from this guy who has no real clue how excursions really operate, and the advanced extensive planning & negotiating that happens.

Tom is right.  These administrations change with each new executive.  Attitudes and climates change.  No need to go "Chicken Little" on it.

Except, in the meantime, quite a number of private car owners are left holding the bag, financially, with some even selling off their cars.

Thanks for the feedback, HW.  I see you got the gist of the first part of comment.

As for the private car owners, I feel bad for them.  Also both sad and glad that I don't have the financial status to be one of them.  Fortunately, these sort of things seem to be cyclical.  Won't be the last time we see the wonks deciding that economics and liability rule the world.  As with most things, the truth often is somewhere in the middle.

Well the Friends of 261 just acquired an old E unit. This will offer them more options, including just pulling the cars with it to raise funds, or using it with 261 to provide backup power possibly cutting out the need for Amtrak, though there's always going to be the issue of insurance. As far as where to run, the Twin Cities & Western has hosted 261 in the past for runs out to Willmar, MN. BNSF might allow trips to Duluth again. Time will tell.

I know a lot happens behind the scenes like with the previous NS excursions, etc., it's a lot of hard work. Now Denver Post has ended their excursions with UP, leaving no mainline public steam excursions left in the US. We went from multiple excursions on NS, BNSF, UP, and Amtrak (Autumn Express) to nothing within a few years. This will leave many class 1 freight only lines unrideable by non-employees for a long time. I wonder if P&W in Massachusetts/RI/CT will continue diesel excursions under G&W? Especially since some excursions used Amtrak track part of the way, like the circle trips. But, we still have plenty of tourist railroads, and some larger non class 1 railroads with steam, like Reading and Northern.