New River Train might run again

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The group that was running this train, lost 180,000 usd last year (Reported). So how does the fine Senator from West Virginia plan to operate this train? Have Amtrak do it with there equipment?

I don’t think that the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society is available.
 
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It’s not CP Huntington which is why I hope it fails. And that is all I can say because I’m sworn to total secrecy. I hope he fails though
 
I suspect it's too little, too late, in my opinion.

It also gets Amtrak out of being the 'bad guy' for the New River train.

I recall reading somewhere that the C&O historical society group that sponsors the train declared bankruptcy. That's why the news article indicated their phones were out of service.

Add that it appears that Amtrak has OK'd the train. Period. The collection of privately owned cars from wherever they are located would still have to get there, paying the now-'usual' outrageous haulage charges while toeing the line 'no open vestibule doors and empty platforms' rules.

So, would Amtrak extend credit to the bankrupt historical group for use of their locomotives and crews? Would the individual car owners want to shell out thousands of dollars and HOPE to get paid by the same historical group?
 
It also happens to be someone I seriously dislike both personally and professionally. There are several layers stacked on to this. Small community

And this ladies and gentlemen is the reason that most rail advocacy is doomed to fail. The advocates spend more time fighting and bad mouthing each other than dealing with the real issues based on real facts as opposed to rumors and innuendos... This is not just limited to the PV community but pretty much infects the entire rail advocacy community. You should see the proportion of time that is spent by the rail advocates in the New York/New Jersey area or even in outfits like the RPA just bickering among themselves compared to the time spent actually advocating.
 
And this ladies and gentlemen is the reason that most rail advocacy is doomed to fail. The advocates spend more time fighting and bad mouthing each other than dealing with the real issues based on real facts as opposed to rumors and innuendos... This is not just limited to the PV community but pretty much infects the entire rail advocacy community. You should see the proportion of time that is spent by the rail advocates in the New York/New Jersey area or even in outfits like the RPA just bickering among themselves compared to the time spent actually advocating.

While I generally agree with the above statement.

Running a business into bankruptcy, and then have a third party take it over, does strike me as unacceptable behavior.


In February, the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, which has operated the excursion train for 52 years, announced the New River Train will not run in 2019, citing higher charges and more restrictive policies for operation of private cars and excursion trains imposed by Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, in 2018.
 
I’m anxious to see the details of the new operation. According to the OP link, Sen.
Machin said details to be released in a week, and that was on 5/23. Regardless of the circumstances, I would think a revival of the train would be good for all those in WV, and maybe a few railfans.

Let’s just hope there is not some quid pro quo with Amtrak agreeing to this and Machin backing off objecting to some future changes with Amtrak service. Sorry for being a bit cynical about Amtrak dealings and politicians. I hope Seaboard92 differences can be reconciled as he clearly enjoyed his work on it.
 
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