Autumn Colors Express Huntington, WV River Train

[Jeff Smith]

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HUNTINGTON — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin says Amtrak has created a financial hardship for the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, causing its employees to be laid off and the organization to close its doors.

Manchin, D-W.Va., sent a letter on Thursday to Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson expressing concern over Amtrak's policies and restrictions that are creating the financial hardship for the society and putting the New River Train's October trips in jeopardy of ending as well. The letter explained the impact of Collis P. Huntington's closure to West Virginia and urges Amtrak to re-examine its policies.
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"In March of last year, Amtrak imposed new restrictions that eliminated special trains like the New River Train and removed Huntington as a station where private cars could be added to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains," Manchin wrote. "I was initially encouraged by our phone call when you agreed to allow Collis P. Huntington to continue operating the New River Train in 2018. Unfortunately, your organization increased the cost to operate the train by $120,000 and imposed numerous additional restrictions throughout the year that drove costs even higher. Despite its enormous popularity and increased seat prices for the two October Railroad Days weekends, the train still operated at a $180,000 loss. To make matters worse, Collis P. Huntington's regular trips to Washington and New York - which help offset the costs of running the New River Train - had to be canceled since they could no longer originate or end in Huntington."
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[Jeff Smith]

It's back: Herald-Dispatch.com

New West Virginia autumn train excursions to be announced Friday

CHARLESTON - After innumerable obstacles, setbacks and delays, organizers of fall train excursions that will replace the long-running New River Train said Wednesday they will make an official launch announcement Friday, Aug. 2, and plan to put tickets on sale Monday, Aug. 5.

"Hopefully, we can get some momentum going and get people talking about it," Lou Capwell, with Railway Excursion Management Co. (Railexco), said Wednesday of the long-delayed announcement of the Autumn Colors Express.

Friday's announcement will come 10 weeks and one day after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., first stated in a tweet that an announcement would be "coming soon" on resumption of the excursion trains between Huntington and Hinton, where Railroad Days festivities coincide with the train runs.

That was after the cash-strapped Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society announced in February it was canceling its 2019 runs of the New River Train after 52 years of continuous operation, citing more than $180,000 of operating losses from the 2018 runs - losses attributed to higher fees and operational restrictions imposed by Amtrak, the national rail passenger service.
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[jhdeasy]

Yes, the New River Train has been re-incarnated as the Autumn Colors Express.

New management. New format (three consecutive days Friday thru Sunday last week of October).

All private cars. Plenty of dome seats. Up to six former SPV-2000 cars as the cheapest coach seats.

I wish them well. Unlike the owners of the DEARING, I don’t feel that the new management of this train is “stealing the shoes from a dead man.”

However, I would not be surprised if they lose money and the participating private car owners don’t get paid 100% of their lease fees.