Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley (CACV) discussion 2008-2011

FWIW, both the Tioga Central and the A&A are rural. They can each draw a crowd on the weekends, so I surprised the CACV would have a hard time attracting passengers on Fridays, Saturdays and/or Sundays. Just a guess- maybe the CACV has an agreement with the locals to not run on weekends?

From the get go it was planned that people would want to take advantage of using the RR to ride into Cooperstown, and the first season had a very aggressive schedule. This has not panned out at all, people preferred to drive right into Cooperstown. It seems hard enough to get people to ride it for a non-special occasion, hence the no Saturday/Sunday schedule. Special events and baseball camp have saved the line. Tapping into the baseball crowd is hard all round, not just for the CACV. A new transportation area just south of the village is about to happen, perhaps that will bring increased visibility to the line and thus increased ridership.

An ideal situation would be to get tracks back across Route 80 and right into where the DO offices are, bringing a big boost to visibility. But with DO HQ curiously remaining and getting the tracks across 80 a long shot (state road too!) this is a, pardon the pun, a huge curveball. They were removed under the DO era of ownership, long before LRHS came along.

In the meantime, these great folks are hurting big time from two back to back spring washouts, in the same area a little ways north of Milford. Give 'em a call to help! 607 432 2429.

The SD45

The Adirondack Scenic does a fair business during the week (W-F), as well as the weekend day-trippers. The "train robberies" are run on Wednesdays in July and August and are generally well attended.

We have the same visibility problems, though. If one happens past the station in Thendara, Lake Placid, or Saranac Lake, there's nothing but the station to suggest that there is a railroad there when the trains are on their runs, save the stations themselves, and not everyone recognizes them for what they are. Utica Union Station may have once been a busy hub, but today it's off the beaten track.

Hopefully CACV can make it work.

I thought that N.Y.S.&W 116 was actually N.Y.O. & W. RR 116 before the 1957 bankruptcy of the N.Y.O & W.RR and was part of an agreement between the bankruptcy court that N.Y.O & W. RR equipment be sold off and 116 went to the nyc..I think that 116 was included in the nyc/prr merger /PC then conrail.. after that I lost track of this engine until I heard that a private individual purchased it and had it repainted into N.Y.O.& W. RR colors..

Mr.S wrote:I thought that N.Y.S.&W 116 was actually N.Y.O. & W. RR 116 before the 1957 bankruptcy of the N.Y.O & W.RR and was part of an agreement between the bankruptcy court that N.Y.O & W. RR equipment be sold off and 116 went to the nyc..I think that 116 was included in the nyc/prr merger /PC then conrail.. after that I lost track of this engine until I heard that a private individual purchased it and had it repainted into N.Y.O.& W. RR colors..

Yes, NYSW 116 = NYOW 116. Everything you said is correct. It now resides with the Delaware & Ulster Railroad in Arkville, NY.

See also: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 28&t=61481

-otto-

116 was a very well liked engine on the line and I spent many hours working on/with her from day one. We were sad to see her go and were hoping that LRHS/CACV would be the recipient after Mr. Rich's passing but it was not to be- at least she's close to O&W territory and was not cut up.

The SD45

This spring wasn't kind to us. I spent a few days working on the repair of the second subsidence. Big congrats to the other volunteers working on it. Hot work out there. Got back into full operation June 18th in plenty of time for a nice Blues Train run.

Is the CACV accepting volunteer help at this time? Who would be the contact person down there?

We always welcome volunteers. You can call 607-432-2429 (main office) or 607-286-7805 (Milford depot) and leave a message if no one answers. If you like, you can show up on weekends at 11 (our on duty time) until 10/9 (fall foliage trains) and speak to one of the officers who usually double as conductor plus you can get info from the engineer and brakeman on duty. WWW.LRHS.COM is our website. As told to me when I started, "you supply the time and we'll supply the training".

If you want more info I believe you can email me through here but not sure as I just signed up Monday.

I checked out the CACV this past Monday and rode the last leaf peeper of the year. Engineer Pete offered a cab ride (which I never turn down) and he and I along with another guy who happened by that day enjoyed what was a near perfect day. The rumble from a Alco 539 is never tiring and the track down there rides well. We talked railroad on the trip and when we got back I helped Pete and Chris (brakeman) put the train away. Like most of these small operations, labor is the most valuable commodity and they were grateful for the help. I got an application for the LRHS which I sent in so we'll see what happens. Looks like a good place to get dirty I think.

Glad you enjoyed the ride and helped Pete and Chris. Closing things down at the end can be a chore sometimes without extra help. The ongoing work on the subsidence is hard with only a few people but you do get some idea of what it was like back in the day of the first transcon.

It was a great weekend for riding the rails. Unfortunately I had to house/pet sit or I would have been there the entire weekend. I was brakeman on the Saturday night charter and the moon was bright making for a super nice run.

We put together the consist for the Haunted Halloween trains late Saturday morning. With 3 of us cutting and lacing it went pretty fast. Later in the day after a guest engineer a crew went out and dumped another load of fill at the subsidence to extend the bed then a ballast car load spread along the section. Started raining pretty good but I did luck out as I had a prior commitment to go to. Weekday track work will be a lot easier now that the daily runs are over for the season.

A work crew went out late Saturday afternoon to dump a load of fill and spread a carload of ballast on the slow order where we had the washout this past spring. It's coming along. Prior committment didn't permit me to go along but I did lend a hand in putting the haunted Halloween consist together. 3 of us cutting, lacing and throwing switches made it easy.

More ballast was dumped on the slow order last week. Some 80 tons I heard but wasn't there to see. Saturday night was the last Halloween train and I was the brakeman on the push-back. Saw where it was dumped along the track but the snow covered it. I'm guessing this week the tamper will head out. Looking pretty good. Next scheduled train is 11/26 for the Christmas Lights run into Cooperstown. Plenty of time for track work.

Thanks for the updates! Please keep us posted...