Heritage Railroad Passenger Excursion Trains
The FGLK operates an excursion service as a heritage railroad. Operations began in October 2001 with four coaches having been purchased second-hand from Via Rail in late 1998. The cars were delayed in delivery due to customs inspections and feathers that were used as stuffing in the seats having come from a bird that was listed on the endangered species list in the U.S. but not in Canada. The cars arrived in the winter of 1999 after the seats were replaced.
Two cars were upgraded by Via Rail and were set up with electric heating while the other 2 use steam heating. The two updated cars have been repainted into the old New York Central two tone Gray colors and have been named the Canandaigua, and Cayuga. The other two cars, named the Geneva and Seneca, have been repainted in the same scheme, and have been in storage awaiting upgrades to electric heating. In 2008 FGLK restored the Seneca car back into service, doing a much needed partial interior renewal. The sound system was extended into this car as well, making the passengers feel much more included. Currently, the Geneva car sits on a siding along Routes 5&20. Although it is not used for passengers, it does serve as advertising for the railroad to passing cars and pedestrians strolling along the lake. Although FGLK would like to put this car into service, it does need a lot of work, including replacing many of the windows in the car. The three grey coaches are referred to by the staff collectively as "The Greys". In 2009, ceiling fans were installed in all of the coaches in order to better circulate the air.
A full baggage car joined the fleet in late 2005 with possible plans to be rebuilt into an open-air observation car. In 2007, FGLK purchased two antique passenger coaches (Ex Norfolk & Western coaches built Circa 1916). These coaches do not currently have names, but are numbered #1642 (Table Car) and #1643 (Coach). Finger Lakes Railway honored the heritage of the Lehigh Valley Railroad with these cars by painting them into a maroon color with yellow accents and gold lettering. The staff calls these cars "The Reds".
The passenger cars are usually operated in two sets, with The Reds operating on the rockier track in Watkins Glen, and The Greys running across the state on the northern tracks. The Reds have 6 axles per car, causing them to ride better by spreading out the load over more track at once. Throughout the year, you can see all five of the passenger cars running together on the many scenic events offered.
Read more about this topic: Finger Lakes Railway
Famous quotes containing the words heritage, railroad, passenger, excursion and/or trains:
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)
“Though the railroad and the telegraph have been established on the shores of Maine, the Indian still looks out from her interior mountains over all these to the sea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every American travelling in England gets his own individual sport out of the toy passenger and freight trains and the tiny locomotives, with their faint, indignant, tiny whistle. Especially in western England one wonders how the business of a nation can possibly be carried on by means so insufficient.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The complaint ... about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernes, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)