dlagrua wrote:My wife and myself has the opportunity to ride the 12:30 PM train from Rio Grande to Cape May yesterday. We returned on the 3:10 PM train.
The RDC's were in great shape, were kept spotless and they arrived and departed to the minute. The highlight is going over the swing bridge as this is the only tourist train that I can find that does this. Got a chance to say hello to Tony and crew. They are a great group of dedicated railroad people. We found Tony to be a very personable guy who speaks from the heart- by all means an honest and "straight shooter. He told me about a few things that are going on but we will leave this to the RR to make public. There was a narrator on board that give everyone a history of the line and provided some great info.
There is plenty of parking at the Rio Grande stop ( there is a lot right there) and more people were aboard than we expected. I believe that I heard that the train burns a type of Bio Diesel fuel as to keep the locals happy.
Its great to see the train running again into Cape May. They will run through labor day. Also service is resuming on the Tuckahoe to Richland run I believe starting in Oct. (check the CMSL website)
The ride was enjoyable and we hope to be riding the historic train to Cape May again in 2011.
I was on that same 12:30pm train yesterday (8/24), but I came back on the 1:10 so I could get back home in plenty of time to get to the Phillies game (and, yes, my wife and I stayed all 16 innings until 12:25am). Too bad we had no way of knowing each other. I would have said Hi.
I agree: it was a very nice ride. The car interiors are in great shape, and the windows were clean and clear. I liked that they pointed out the old Cape May Point line and the old wye, and the commentary in general. There was less chatting on the return trip and some minor issue at the Route 9 grade crossing (sat for about 10 minutes while Tony worked on something), but it was also a nice ride. I was reasonably impressed with the passenger counts both ways. About 30 per trip, and that is with the word being passed only by forums like this and word of mouth.
That was my first time ever by train to Cape May - PRSL, Conrail, or CMSL, so it was a treat. My PRSL experience always ended at the Court House and the bus to Stone Harbor. I don't think the shortened route makes much difference. The ride north of the Canal Bridge is not the highlight of the journey, so having less of it may be a good thing.