And after you finish looking through Bob's excellent collection of photos, you get to read my book and a half about today's event:
Hey everyone,
A great day it was today in Tuckahoe...150 tickets sold (or something around that), I'd say actually 200 attendees (some didn't ride probably)...that was more people than I'd personally truly
expected to show up. But, this very special day combined with the
PERFECT weather made for the best conditions anyone could ask
for...and that brought the people out in drones.
In any case, here's some photos of my own from today's event (well I
guess it's technically yesterday now, I don't really consider it the
next day until the sun comes up):
Arriving at Tuckahoe a little early (yes, I arrived someplace early,
I'm surprised it didn't snow today just because of that), I found CNJ
1523 on the siding posed next to PRR 7000 and it's train on the main
at the station. There was a decent crowd of people there (you can't
see them here, but they were there), but more would arrive later on:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... erview.jpg
After the West Jersey chapter's monthly meeting (held at the
station), we took off on the first of what would become a total of 3
excursions to Woodbine. The quantity of people on hand outnumbered
the seating capacity of M407 and the Alex DeCroce cafe car.
Therefore, a second regular riders excursion was run immediatly
following the first, to give everyone on hand a chance to ride.
After those two runs were complete, CMSL extra-7000 south departed
Tuckahoe with the "railfan train", which consisted of the photo
stops. Below, CMSL extra-7000 south executes a photo runby about
half way between Tckahoe and Woodbine on the Cape May Branch:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... _Runby.jpg
Upon arrival at Woodbine Junction, all passengers were required to de-
train so that the equipment could be run over the Woodbine Viaduct
(track work not yet complete). A majority of the riders chose to
walk the 1/2 mile to the route 550 bridge to shoot the train
crossing. In perhaps what I just might consider my "photo of the
day", CMSL extra-7000 south with PRR 7000 leading creeps across the
bridge at walking speed, with CMSL president and general manager Tony
Macrie at the throttle:
http://members.aol.com/jjmdimunno/CMSL/ ... odbine.jpg
After that, the cars behind the 7000 were re-boarded by the crowd and
ran express back to Tuckahoe.
I'd like to take this time to publically thank everyone involved in
this great event...including (but surely not limited to) the West
Jersey Chapter NRHS, and of course the Cape May Seashore Lines as a
whole for making this whole day possible.
It was a pleasure to meet some of the people I've talked to online or
via this message board for so long, or people I've corresponded with
over the years in some way. Also, today was a great opportunity to
get the SJRA business card out a little more...hopefully we'll have
some new members joining us soon over here...
OK, finally I'm finished (all may breathe sighs of relief now). Have
a good night everyone.
Mike DiMunno
www.SJRail.com: All about South Jersey Railroads!