Railroad Forums 

  • Ever use a tourist line for serious transportation?

  • General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.
General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.

Moderators: rob216, Miketherailfan

 #46721  by EastCleveland
 
I've noticed that quite a few tourist / scenic lines travel for fairly substantial distances. They often stop at several towns along the route.

My question / thought of the day:

Has anyone ever used a tourist line, not as a Sunday family diversion, but as a way of actually getting from Point A to Point B? For example, to visit grandma, attend a wedding, go on a fishing trip, travel to work, reach your cabin in the woods, run away from home, etc.

After all, many lines run on daily schedules over former "fallen flag" passenger routes. Many use Budd, ACF, and Pullman-Standard rolling stock from the 40s and 50s. It stands to reason that a few passengers would occasionally use them as serious transportation in places Amtrak and commuter railroads don't serve.

Anyone ever try it?

 #47043  by rob216
 
My question is. Would the tourist line really let people do that? I quess they could do it, but then they are also going to be in the passenger service to.
 #47235  by RRBUFF
 
In the early days of the Valley Railroad,Essex Steam Train,we handled a few passengers from Deep River to Essex to go to the movie theater afternoon shows,tickets were sold on the train. Also had a shuttle from Essex to Amtrak connection at Old Saybrook to pick up passengers for the train and boat rides

 #48472  by creeker
 
In New Jersey there is the Cape May Seashore line. People use this train to get into Cape May to go to work or to go to the beach. Instead of using the conjested roads.

-Eric

 #52750  by Ken W2KB
 
At a 2-day business meeting in SF I commuted from the hotel via the cable cars.
 #108258  by Arborwayfan
 
The Cape Cod and Hyannis RR, which operated in the 1980s, was partly a mixed tourist-utilitarian line. It connected with the MBTA red line at South Braintree, Mass., and ran trains from there to Hyannis and Falmouth on Cape Cod. It ran year-round at least part of the way and tried to get commuters. This was over what is now the Middleboro/Lakeville commuter rail line. There was a state subsidy for the commuter operation, so I think it was actually cheaper to ride from Buzards Bay to Braintree than from Buzzards Bay to Hyannis. I never rode it because the summer I was old enough to ride down and see Grandma, as the original posting said, they lost the subsidy at least for a while. Later, when Amtrak tried reviving the Cape Codder, CCHRR ran a connecting train from Buzzards Bay to Falmouth while the Amtrak train continued on to Hyannis. I think CCHRR also ran a train all the way out to a special NEC stop at So. Attleboro commuter rain station to connect on weekdays when the Cape Codder didn't run.

 #108346  by Ken W2KB
 
It did run to the Attleboro station with a scheduled connection to an Amtrak train. That's how I returned after taking the Cape Codder on a Friday for a 3 night stay at Hyannis.

 #111811  by Richard Y
 
A few years ago, I took the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver, BC to Jasper, Alb., mainly for pure transportation purposes, as I don't like to travel by either air or car on long trips. The objective was exploring Northern Alberta and taking the Iceberg Highway down to Lake Louise. I am taking the Cascades, from Eugene to Seattle, this summer purely for the enjoyment of riding the Cascades..so in this case it is a commuter train turned into a tourist excursion, as far as I am concerned. I would like to see some outfit , like the Montana Daylight excursion train, run a first-class train from Portland and Seattle over to their departure town of Sandpoint, Idaho. It could also sort of be a combination transportation/tourist line which I think would be very popular.
Richard

 #142425  by SteelWheels21
 
Didn't the New Hope & Ivyland run a push-pull train for a while to connect with the Septa line at their shared terminus?

 #142445  by chuchubob
 
creeker wrote:In New Jersey there is the Cape May Seashore line. People use this train to get into Cape May to go to work or to go to the beach. Instead of using the conjested roads.
-Eric
My wife and I have driven to Cape May Court House and taken the CMSL into Cape May to avoid traffic congestion and parking hassles.

CMSL photo at Cold Spring station
http://www.transitspot.com/gallery/Bobs ... 05_06_05_3