TICKETS for NKP 765 EXCURSIONS...

This would be so great to ride behind or even chase the 765. Really wish I could go....thanks for posting Rich! 

Ordered mine.  See you in Youngstown on July 25th!  🚂

Over 600 tickets sold already...in 12 MINUTES!

Is that total for both trips Rich ?

I got nine seats for the Saturday Cannonball.  Ride on Saturday, take pictures on Sunday!

Is there a way you can see how many tickets are left for each class? When you go to the ticket site and you select one of the arrows by a 0, it shows 10 tickets for coach for the Ohio trips. Does that mean 10 maximum allowed per order? How can you see the remaining number of tickets left? The 611 trips it shows the number of tickets left for each class. I just want to be prepared for June 1 for the Lehigh Valley trip. Will the Dover Harbor be on the train this time? It shows it for the Fort Wayne and Ohio trips. I might talk my mom into the Hollywood Beach, not sure if she would be willing to spend over $1000 for 4 adults. Otherwise it will be the regular newer NS coaches like 2 years ago when we rode the Horseshoe Curve trip. In the future I'd love a trip into NJ or to Harrisburg or Philly on those freight only NS lines. I missed the diesel trips that ran some of those lines the past two years. One trip you had to board in Hoboken or Newark, NJ and the other Philly. You actually have better coaches and bathrooms than Reading and Northern (line you're running on in August) which has older open window coaches with old seats and small bathrooms.

Yes...up to about 800 now. 500 for Fort Wayne and 300 for Youngstown.

 

Are you still going to get a group together for a whole car out of Youngstown? If so, you better let Kelly know SOON!

 

 

RobertK, I can't even begin to answer all your questions...

I got my 3 coach tix for Saturday 7/18. Happy birthday to me!

Rich, do you know when the Scranton tickets will go on sale? Thanks

Oh boy. I'd better be ready on June 1st!

got 2 tickets for July 26 a belated birthday present to me!!!!

The next set, which will be Buffalo and Allentown/Bethlehem, will go on sale June 1.

 

Not sure when we will launch sales for the Steamtown trips. They are still a long way off.

Any idea on ticket prices and car choices for Allentown trip?

Will 765 run excursions out of Steamtown for Railfest, or will she just be parked in the yard?  

To the Delaware Water Gap on Saturday and Monday. Static display on Sunday.

Oh wow, thank you

On the DWG excursions what will pull the train on the return? Would you be able to turn the 765 on the NS wye in Portland and run around the coaches in Slateford Yard to have 765 pull the train on the return trip? The coaches would not need to touch NS property, just the 765. Or, how about avoid the wye and have 765 pull the train backwards to Scranton? Will Steamtown's open window coaches be used on these trips? What is the price point for those trips? Also, the Allentown trips vanished from the website in the events and excursions page. Is that because they're changing the date again? I didn't think you would cancel those. Do you know what really would have been neat? A circle trip from Bethlehem to Scranton, and down the old DL&W to Portland, and down the NS owned portion to Phillipsburg, NJ and cross to Easton, PA and on the ex-LV (NS) to Bethlehem. No reverse moves would be required. The train would be facing the same way on return.

• We'll turn the whole train at Portland. It's the same train we'll be using on the NS trips, so there's no issue with turning the train on an NS wye.
• Steamtown's open window cars will be in use on their regular Moscow trips.
• I'm not in the ticketing department, so I don't know the prices. Check the web site on June 1.
• We had to change the Allentown (Bethlehem) date due to "Musikfest." We should be able to finalize the date this week. We came very close to cancelling these trips due to the operating and logistical problems they present, but I think we have them all worked out now.

Well that would have been a let down if you couldn't run the Allentown trips, I'm looking forward to seeing 765 in my area and riding behind it again. I thought the August 8 and 9 dates were a bad idea if you're planning to board in Bethlehem because that is Musikfest opening weekend and it will be crazy on both the north and south sides. Parking will be limited, and hotels are booking. August 15 and 16 is the closing weekend. People come from all over the country to Musikfest, and they get major bands there as well as local polka bands and others. My father used to work for Bethlehem Steel there, he passed away March 8, 1986. Why are there operating and logistical problems with those trips? Which side of Bethlehem are you planning to board? North side with the ex-CNJ depot or south side with the ex-LV station? Last time you were through there was with the July 1988 NJ convention trips which you say the convention was so horrible. I read the horror stories. Will we get a trip through the NS Allentown yard since you're starting in Bethlehem and heading north to Pittston? Only way north is up the ex-CNJ to Lehighton from the yard.

I had never heard of Musikfest before getting into the planning for these trips, but I sure do know about it now! It has ALL the resources in the town tied up - parking, buses, hotels, etc.

 

I'm not going to get into discussing the operating issues presented by these trips. Accept that they have been solved and let it go at that.

 

Boarding location information will come with your tickets.

One logistic you've probably not considered is emergency medical coverage. The Lehigh Gorge is inaccessible for much of the way, plus the long climb from White Haven to Mountain Top. If there is an on-board medical emergency, it is far better to have EMS resources with you than try to make it to the nearest grade crossing where there may or may not be an ambulance waiting. Especially given the inconsistency of EMS response in PA.!
You probably did not realize that on each of the 765 Horseshoe Curve trips 2 years ago, there was a fully-equipped paramedic team from Lewistown on board. I rode with this team on 1 trip, and the value of having this capability was shown at the museum in Altoona, where an elderly woman suffered a fall during the lunch layover.There was also a car that had AC problems on the return trip, and the on-board medics quickly assessed the possible problems in each case. I would say that the 765 group considers many scenarios before finalizing any trip, today's litigious society demands no less.

There have been at least TWO EMT crews aboard every excursion the 765 has run in her long career.

 

EMT issues played no role in the difficult operating logstics involved in these trips.

Rich, and anyone else planning to be in the area,

If you ever get the chance, try to get to Music Fest. Much of the downtown is closed to traffic, with music venues all along Main Street, and down to the Lehigh River, and then east to the former Bethlehem steel Plant. It is ten days of awesome music and food from around the world, crafts, and demonstrations of eighteenth and nineteenth century life in the Lehigh Valley. Theresa and I will be going this summer after a hiatus of a few years.

Don

They are trying to reschedule the train excursions to avoid Musikfest weekends. So, they will be in Bethlehem after Musikfest is over. Bethlehem to Pittston, that's a pretty long ride, about 180 miles round trip. I wonder if they will use NS rails to Old Penn Haven, then switch to RBMN for the rest of the way to Pittston Wye. But, on the return they would have to use RBMN tracks south of Old Penn Haven to be able to access the new connection over the ex-CNJ bridge to stop at Jim Thorpe at the ex-CNJ station for 2 1/2 hours. There are parking lots and decks on the south side of Bethlehem that could accommodate the train riders, and there is a yard there with several tracks, they could board from the track closest to the parking lots without blocking the main line. Last time you could board a steam excursion in Bethlehem was in 1975 when CP 972 and Whippany River 148 pulled an excursion over LV from Bethlehem to South Plainfield, NJ and return. All other steam excursions in the 1980's were passing through Bethlehem and Allentown, not boarding there. There were no steam excursions on the mainlines in Allentown and Bethlehem in the 1990's and first decade of 2000's.

Is there a website to purchase the tickets or just to phone in?  I am looking for the Allentown tickets on June 1st?  Thanks.

Rich,

   Way to go, if I could be there I sure would, I take it you will be the Engineer on these Train rides!  

PCRR/Dave

http://fortwaynerailroad.org/events-and-excursions/

I'll be running the 765 on some, but not all of these trips. We have four qualified engineers on the 765's crew, and we share the running responsibilities.

 

GET TICKETS HERE!

The top of the page says the Allentown dates are TBD, but the dates and times are listed below.  Are the dates set, or could there be a change?

 

The Allentown/Bethlehem trips are PLANNED FOR August 22-23.

 

I use the words "planned for" because there are a couple of loose ends I need to tie up before we can make them official.

Thanks Rich, since I plan on going on one of them, I'm interested in the dates.

Sounds good to me also. Just a week before my wife and my birthday. How sweet can that be.  :-)

Rich, the 765 departs Youngstown on July 25th & 26th at 7:30AM. Do you know what time she will depart back southbound out of Ashtabula to back down to Youngstown?

Departure out of Youngstown will be at 9 am, not 7:30. Where did you see 7:30?

 

We should get out of Ashtabula around 2:30 pm.

Hey, I thought this was the "O" gauge forum. I'm writing Rich. LOL

Don

Mr. Rich Melvin

My Dad and me are going to rail fest at steam town. Would it possible for a photo of the 3 of us by 765?

I attended last year and am really looking forward to this year.

 

Thanks Chris

Is the Dover Harbor going to be on the train? I saw it listed on the site. Hollywood Beach looks like a good car to ride in with the windows on the ceiling and large side windows but it is expensive and limited seating so it might sell out fast. But I'd rather be closer to 765 than at the rear of the train. I'm guessing the boarding will be near the former Bethlehem Steel plant, correct? Plenty of public parking there by the casino and steel stacks. Good that you nailed down the dates. Aug 22-23 will be good because the Musikfest mess in Bethlehem will be long gone by then. I still wish someday you would run trips from Bethlehem to Harrisburg, or Bound Brook to Reading the 1988 route. Also, you won't need any diesel assistance to go up the heavy grades toward Pittston? All of the counties around us have tourist trains except ours, Lehigh as well as Northampton County so this will be a treat.

Robert, we will NOT be boarding near the Casino. NS does not own that yard and there is a steel fence between the railroad and the parking lot for its entire length. We want to use the casino parking lot, but the actual boarding site is not there.

 

Note what I said a few posts above this one...we are PLANNING on August 22-23, however there are still some difficult logistics issues that have to be solved before the trips are official. If we cannot solve them within the next week or two, we'll pull the dates from the schedule and not run these trips.

 

No...don't even ask what the logistics issue are.

I'm sure we could do that and I would be honored to pose for a picture with you guys!