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Fans react to canceled NS steam trips
Its a good call to cancel the trips for 4501. Be a shame to see it in the rain and possibly on its side if weather is too extreme
So, did No. 4501 and her train stay in Chattanooga?
Safety was the prudent course to take. Bummer that the fans had to miss out on the trip though. Hopefully, they will be able to reschedule for a future date.
Looks like 4501 will deadhead back from Atlanta to Chattanooga today (10/6)
My wife and I were scheduled to take the Saturday Toccoa trip. We were in a grocery store as the text message from TVRM came through when Harriett said “You’re not gonna like this…” I’d had a feeling the weather was gonna be a problem, so I really wasn’t surprised. Fortunately, the weekend before, we rode the 2:00 pm trip out of Macon in the observation car. A really good trip and I’ve never seen so many railfans and townspeople watching us pass. The crowd in Tennille, GA, where we turned on the wye there, made it seem like the whole town turned out to watch us and wave friendly greetings. It was a distinct pleasure to ride behind 4501 as we hadn’t done that for 17 years since shortly before she went into rebuild at TVRM. I got some good pics after we got back to Macon, but we sure couldn’t see her at the end of an 18 car train with the combination of railroad curvature and scenery on the old Central of Georgia Savannah main line. The smoke and 4501’s beautiful whistle never left us a doubt, though, that she was definitely there! We sincerely appreciate NS’, TVRM’s and Wick Moorman’s efforts with the 21st Century Steam program. We further sincerely hope that NS’ new CEO will see fit to allow this program to continue.
Rick & Harriett Shivik
Conyers, GA
Good call. Safety is paramount. Not sure if any refunds could be given since it does state on the tickets that trips are usually rain or shine and tickets are Non-Refundable. But in the event of a Hurricane. Maybe NS & TVRM could offer a partial refund or some kind of credit if they can arrange another trip. But better safe than sorry. Equipment, No matter how valuable means nothing if it means losing a life.
Same thing happened to the Tenn. Central Rwy. Museum in Nashville in 2010. They ran a trip to Cookeville the Saturday the rain started, and the return was held at Brush Creek due to a washout east of Watertown. Fortunately TCRM has friends in high places and county school buses (and drivers who knew where Brush Creek was) were marshaled to get the passengers back to Nashville. The bridge over Town Creek in Lebanon just west of the S. Cumberland St. crossing also suffered disabling damage as well. I’m not sure how isolated the Atlanta-Toccoa line is, but imagine having to stop the train and unload all those passengers had a washout occurred in front of (and behind) the train, and would NS/TVRM have been able to marshal transportation. They made the right call.