Strates Circus Train Status in New York

lvrr325 wrote:There were other reasons for the selling of the train.

Spill it... we would like to know.... Too bad that they had to give it up... I cant remember if I ever seen it but i think i saw it once.

Didn't roadster mentioned that one of the car was set off and later on it was picked up to be sent to a place for repair??

sd80mac wrote:I cant remember if I ever seen it but i think i saw it once.

Here's what it looked like last summer when I caught it on the Southern Tier Line: http://youtu.be/F8v_z_YcdxI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's to bad that nobody filmed them when they came down on Finger Lakes bound for Geneva with interchange to NS. That was the last time they ran them older pass cars with the friction trucks. I was out and expecting them at noon the day they were to depart Syracuse on the FGLK. But they did not leave Solvay till late that afternoon and arrived in Seneca Falls, NY around 4:30 in the afternoon. I should have taken the day off from work to catch them but I any ways got to see them roll by the factory when I went on brake.

The train decreased in size over the years anyway, I believe. Not sure on car count but it used to be a monster. And to add to the fun, some of the cars had duplicate numbers - the train could have two different cars with the same number.

scharnhorst wrote:It's to bad that nobody filmed them when they came down on Finger Lakes bound for Geneva with interchange to NS. That was the last time they ran them older pass cars with the friction trucks.

I can promise you there were no friction bearings on that train, given they can't be interchanged and haven't been able to be interchanged except in rare exceptions in something like 40 years.

Here it is at Solvay NY westbound 9-9-2010 1:08pm.

Friction bearings have been banned in interchange service just over 20 years - 1-1-1994 as near as I can find out. It should be noted that that applies to freight cars in regular service, and was an industry agreement, not a government regulation. Railroads could, and did, agree in specific instances to accept a car or cars with friction bearings. However, as time went by the big roads grew less and less willing to make exceptions, and finally it got to the point that many would flat-out refuse ANYTHING with them.

The move over FGLK was destination driven, and had nothing to do with mechanical issues.

To answer some questions:

1. Yes, the train came north, after a portion of the show moved over the road to play an early spot that overlapped with one in Florida. Flat cars only, no coaches.

2. The last information I had was that the coaches were still parked in Florida, consisting of the Strates family car, the 4 stainless cars they got from the Battenkill RR a couple years ago, the generator car, and one other coach that was acquired in the last 10 years. The older coaches that the Battenkill cars replaced are razor blades and Toyotas at this point, I was shown photos of them being scrapped a while back.

3. The train has become much less important to Strates over the last several years as they have picked up more spots to play in the NY City vicinity. In many cases, there's just no place to put the train near these spots, so parking and unloading it in Middletown/Port Jervis, NY in April/May and not reloading it until early August to go to Hamburg, NY has been the norm. The coaches aren't very useful as worker housing if they are several hours away from where the show is located. While the reductions of the train aren't solely the result of losing Syracuse, it is the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. The loss of $2.5-3 million dollars of gross income (pre-expenses) requires some necessary cuts to expenses -- which not only affected the train, but also resulted in personnel cuts, and led to a couple major rides (Top Spin and Himalaya) to remain parked in Florida. Effectively all of their equipment can now move over the road (Top Spin was the last 'train-only' ride).

4. No public announcement has been made regarding where Strates will go instead of the NY State Fair. Word on the street was they had one week figured out, but nothing has been announced. Big fairs like that are hard to replace at the late date that NY State made their decision.

Hi All,
I would very much like to see the strates train leave hamburg/buffalo. What is a good time and date to see this?
thanks,
Matt

leftyfretguy wrote:Hi All,
I would very much like to see the strates train leave hamburg/buffalo. What is a good time and date to see this?
thanks,
Matt

There will be no Train. They sold some of there Railcars and passenger equipment and will be trucking most of it around to the different shows.

I have not seen it for myself but what is this then?
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/ ... n-20140801" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My friend just posted a pic of the Buffalo Southern re-assembling the Fair Train with this caption:

"Packing up the Erie county fair and putting it back on the train for it's journey to Virginia."

I just drove by and saw the train that doesn't exist . They had just about finished loading one section and had another empty section on the adjacent track waiting. They apparently had a long way to go with loading. None of the spectators I talked with knew for sure when it would leave. The best guess was tonight or tomorrow morning.

A couple of FB friends have said the Strates train will leave tomorrow.

thebigham wrote:My friend just posted a pic of the Buffalo Southern re-assembling the Fair Train with this caption:

"Packing up the Erie county fair and putting it back on the train for it's journey to Virginia."

Sorry if I missed this somewhere else, but the circus train is heading south? Not going to the NY State Fair this year?

Thanks,
Charlie