STEAM RETURNS MAY 24TH!!!

Thanks for the great pics!!!

Were the trains full?

The train in the picture had 4 coaches. On the busiest trips, 5 coaches are usually used.

The 12:00 train looked like there was a few seats available. It was hard to tell since Ben wasn't in his seat . I would guess from watching from when they first left it was about 80-90 % full.

The engineer Bradley did a great job Saturday, though both trips were rough leaving Curriers because there is a slight grade as the tracks approach the road crossing. In the future, they will probably pull the passenger train down the passing siding more to allow for a longer "flying start." I shot a video of #18 leaving Curriers on the second Saturday trip. You can see that Brad never looses his cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwkQG-d-1lw

Yeah, I figured that there would be differences with a new engineer and with the rebuild work... I was just wondering if I was feeling things right at first. It was a great trip. I should have my own videos up later today.

Thanks to everyone who put videos up at YouTube!!

This is the train leaving Arcade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAlmS3x ... re=related

Pictures from Joe Nugent:

http://picasaweb.google.com/joe.r.nugen ... rsion52508

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Pictures from Joe Nugent:

http://picasaweb.google.com/joe.r.nugen ... rsion52508

Thanks, Otto.

I had a great time at the Arcade and Attica this weekend. My last steam trip was almost a decade ago, when the Susquehanna 142 was still in Utica. It was nice to ride behind a steam locomotive again. This was my first experience with the ARA, and I must say, the line has a lot of character. Thanks to the very friendly crew. BSOR Pat - It was nice meeting you!

I'm glad Arcade is only an hour away from Medina... I may need to return there sometime soon!

Kuddos to all providing photos and video for those of us who just couldn't be there opening day! I can't wait to ride in July.

Does anyone have a feel if ridership was respectible on Sun and Mon?

I am not sure if is was "respectible" or not, but everyone I saw was happy. Weather was great, but the price of gas was a big factor (of course, the A&A decided to start using Steamers to try and get around that...), which always hurts. I am sure that as the summer goes on word of mouth and advertisements will draw even more.

As for the comments about how the railroad has "character," it sure does. But, by the time they are done with with the right of way, it might have a bit less!

I see from Joe's pictures there was only 3 coaches on Sunday. Does anyone know if that is going to be standard for the year using the 4th as needed?

Joe,
Where did you take that shot with the engine running tender first through a field? Im guessing from Curriers Road???? And if so, how far is that from the Curriers depot? I saw so many new photo locations on this trip that I will have to go back several more times this year!
thanks,
Matt

My favorite shot- a live steamer passing a dead diesel!

In all of the pictures, I do not see the locomotive's headlights on -- neither on the front of the engine nor on the back of the tender. Why?

Most troubling is the pictures of the train approaching grade crossings with no headlight on....

Well, after realizing my footage was about 15 minutes too long for the maximum upload that YouTube would support, I am currently converting it so I can just host it right from my own site. It'll be done in about 2 hours, so I will post it up in the morning and (finally) post a link here then. I hope it's worth it

leftyfretguy wrote:Where did you take that shot with the engine running tender first through a field? Im guessing from Curriers Road???? And if so, how far is that from the Curriers depot?

This photo here?



This was taken from Curriers Road, however, I'm not exactly sure where along that road. (Definitely somewhere north of Genesee Road.) There are quite a few spots along this road to catch the train from high above and far away. I will probably go back sometime to catch the locomotive on the head end in that shot.

As a side note, if you head south on Curriers Road a little bit further you can see the wind turbines in the horizon.