CMSL service Rio Grande to Cape May

bluedash2 wrote:

bystander wrote:I got a copy of Train magazine yesterday and it had a list of Christmas trains and Cape May wasnt' on it. Are they doing it this year? I try to get a ride down there to ride it ever year.

Yes they are. I just saw on Facebook that they will be posting the official Santa Train Schedule in a few days.

Great news. Thanks for the update.

A new page has been loaded for the Santa Expresses. Schedule to follow:

http://www.the-santa-express.com/santa_gen.php

Good to see something positive happening on the CMSL. If only something could be done to get the trains running back to Cape May, that would be welcome news.

Lol, miracles don't happen in the railroad world...

Any chance of extending the Santa Train down THESE TRACKS http://www.losttracksoftime.com/p1031465404 along the beach?

Anyone care to speculate?...........

This was just posted via Facebook.

NJT4272 wrote:Anyone care to speculate?...........

This was just posted via Facebook.

No track inspections due to no recent Beesleys Point runs?

Disappointing news regardless of the reason. These trains are very popular and typically sell out most runs. Hope the issue is resolved quickly.

Meghan wrote:

bystander wrote:I got a copie of Train magazine yesterday and it ahd a list of Christmas trains and Cape My wasnt' on it. Are they doing it this year? I try to get a ride dowm there to ride it ever year.

Byron, that was a very good catch given Wednesday's announcement. It looks like it won't be Cape May but I promise you will get a train ride.

Now look what I found -
This article is from November 18th http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... _2014.html. Guess who is missing. If Bucks and Delaware Counties are around New Jersey you would think that Atlantic and Cape May Counties would be also. The "delay" announcement was eight days later.

Meghan

Not necessarily. It is my understanding that the NJ.COM member newspapers' primary territories do not cover Atlantic and Cape May Counties, news coverage by NJ.COM there is spotty at best, but do cover the listed locales more extensively. It may well be that the reporter only surveyed the primary newspaper's coverage areas.

We may be beating a dead horse here! IMO, the CMSL is an underfunded, undercapitalized operation that makes no money. If it could be a profitable venture, we would have seen trains by now. Cost of equipment, fuel, labor, maintenance, taxes, fees and government red tape inspections....add it all up. Could you make money running this line? I sincerely believe that Tony runs this operation as a hobby and because he loves trains. He's done some good things over the years but if you have little money to run the service, it doesn't run. The towns along the ROW also break his chops at every opportunity, not to mention the thieves that tore up the tracks.
If someone wants to invest a few million to fix up the line, I'm sure that it will run again. NJT has the equipment resources and could do easily do it but I am told NJT feels that there is no market for train service on the line. Now if they operated it only as a three month summer line, they might have enough ridership.

I am told the Santa trains are supposed to start this weekend. Stay tuned....

I cruised through Tuckahoe this morning on my way to the Cape. Things were pretty quiet with the exception of at least one other apparent railfan. 7000 was sitting in front of the tower detached from the rest of the stock, probably due to having to shift some tank cars which were obviously just dropped off for storage. There were a couple tanks on the CM main by the station and another string spotted below the crossing, all with shiny wheels, so I guess CA51 has been in town recently and the track should be good to go. The RDC's were coupled up with the NYC lounge and several of the URHS cars, all looking ready to roll. I didn't see the LV F7's which have typically run on the Santa trains in the past, guess they were tucked away on the second storage track.

As an aside, my return trip was up the GSP and the power plant was obviously offline today.

glennk419 wrote:I cruised through Tuckahoe this morning on my way to the Cape. Things were pretty quiet with the exception of at least one other apparent railfan. 7000 was sitting in front of the tower detached from the rest of the stock, probably due to having to shift some tank cars which were obviously just dropped off for storage. There were a couple tanks on the CM main by the station and another string spotted below the crossing, all with shiny wheels, so I guess CA51 has been in town recently and the track should be good to go. The RDC's were coupled up with the NYC lounge and several of the URHS cars, all looking ready to roll. I didn't see the LV F7's which have typically run on the Santa trains in the past, guess they were tucked away on the second storage track.

As an aside, my return trip was up the GSP and the power plant was obviously offline today.

Yes, 51 has been going down there about a couple times a week for while now..

WPCA-51 left NS 5803 at Tuckahoe for CMSL to use last night.

The CMSL Santa Express schedule has been posted. Trains are scheduled to run the next two weekends along with Tuesday and Thursday nights starting THIS THURSDAY, December 11 through Tuesday, December 23..

http://www.the-santa-express.com/santa_gen.php

wolfboy8171981 wrote:WPCA-51 left NS 5803 at Tuckahoe for CMSL to use last night.

CMSL needs an engine? I wonder why.