Canaan Railroad Days and Housatonic Excursions

I'm sure some equipment could be found. Berkshire Scenic cars could probably be made available. And the RS3M is up there too. The Belliveau's PRR cars might be available for lease, and then there's the Morristown and Erie cars...

The Central New England had a trip last year. It was well patronized. Hopefully it was profitable.

Otto Vondrak wrote:

Sarge wrote:Any chance they could coordinate this with a rail fan trip from Danbury similar to last year?

Even if they could, what would they ride in? Housatonic has no passenger equipment. Once you factor in passenger liability insurance, the costs of running such a trip become prohibitive.

-otto-

Wasn't there just a fan trip up to Kent? Granted, it was chartered with MNRR pool equipment. Although I couldn't make it, I don't remember the cost being prohibitive. Wasn't the trip self-supporting?

The trip to Kent was sponsored by the DRM using Bomb equipment with a CDOT NH painted P32AC-DM. The train was a sell out!
I was the engineer on the trip; the P32 was a delight to run.

In the past three years, there have been 3 excursions on the Housatonic Railroad. Danbury RR Museum sponsored one from Danbury up to Kent and return. Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts sponsored two excursions, one from Lenox up to Pittsfield, down to Canaan, and back to Lenox, and the second from Canaan to Danbury and return. All were were packed to the gills. I personally prefer railfan excursions where the sponsors deliberately sell only about half of the seats, so that everyone can have a window seat that wants one. An example of such a trip was Mass Bay RRE's recent Fall Circle Tour on the Providence and Worcester Railroad. ( A great trip ! ) If the HRRC is going to do excursions from Canaan to Great Barrington during Canaan Railroad Days, they will need to price it right. Foamers may chuck out $ 80 for a trip without a second thought, but local residents are a bit more frugal.

RussM wrote:In the past three years, there have been 3 excursions on the Housatonic Railroad. Danbury RR Museum sponsored one from Danbury up to Kent and return. Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts sponsored two excursions, one from Lenox up to Pittsfield, down to Canaan, and back to Lenox, and the second from Canaan to Danbury and return. All were were packed to the gills. I personally prefer railfan excursions where the sponsors deliberately sell only about half of the seats, so that everyone can have a window seat that wants one. An example of such a trip was Mass Bay RRE's recent Fall Circle Tour on the Providence and Worcester Railroad. ( A great trip ! ) If the HRRC is going to do excursions from Canaan to Great Barrington during Canaan Railroad Days, they will need to price it right. Foamers may chuck out $ 80 for a trip without a second thought, but local residents are a bit more frugal.

If you can only sell tickets enough for window seats, the costs for any trips would be "off the wall". The days of a $500.00
total cost for a trip are long gone.
Noel Weaver

Hey - maybe you can do what the airlines are doing - charge by seat location.

Window seat and extra $25 for the foamers, aisle seats $10 extra [more shoulder room], and $10 extra for the Conductor's seat [no widow, against the bulkhead] for the 'experience'.

Wait, what is the real price of a seat???

Like I said, charge just like the airlines.

MNCR equipment makes the most sense 'cause of its location & amenities [potties & A/C].

Sorry, I didn't mean to "hijack" the thread with discussion of a Danbury excursion. I just thought the idea would be kind of neat to coordinate it. But thanks for all the replies.

Want a window seat ???
Buy enough tickets to claim the whole seat and it's your's. Or tag up with someone and take turns at the window. To ask a group to sell only a half full train with todays cost's is just to tough.

Is there a web site for the Cannan RR days ??

Tentative plans call for 3 of the ex-DL&W MU trailers for the excursions. Each car seats about 70.

Plans are starting to solidify for the excursions. Having a meeting today with the Canaan Chamber of Commerce.
I was invited to a meeting of the Gt. Barringtom Hist. Society where they had a presentation of RRs thru Gt. Barrington. At this meeting I announced the Housy's participation in Canaan RR Days and the special trains. The reaction was beyond spectacular! I was very pleased.

Very productive and successful meeting with the Canaan Chamber of Commerce this morning.
I'm thrilled to say that the special train "The Berkshire Limited" is a definite go!
Tentative departure times from Canaan are 10:00, 1:00 and 4:00; departures from Gt. Barrington are 11:00, 2:00 and 5:00.
I'll keep you posted as details get more finalized.

Great news, thanks for sharing! Keep us posted with details, as you can make them available to us.

-otto-

All ticket sales will be handled by the Canaan Chamber of Commerce; ALL proceeds will go to the restoration of Canaan Union Station.

Here's the web site:

http://canaanchamber.com/railroad_days.html

I'm meeting with the Canaan Chamber of Commerce this evening to finalize most of the details.

Rick