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Fillmore & Western loses ‘Day out with Thomas’
Mr. Norton asks “why cancel Thomas?” Sounds to me like the operator of Thomas is just contracting with F&W to run it for them and is probably afraid that a court order to stop operating will come too close to the date of Thomas, creating bad publicity for them.
It would be nice if the story writer asked for evidence of maintenance or needed maintenance not being done. Make it better than a story about who’s saying what.
Thanks for the information regarding the Fillmore & Western’s website Mr. McFadden.
After reading this it seems apparent the railroad is dealing with an inept local government which knows nothing about railroading.
Especially, interesting is that UP still serves the line while providing no funds for maintenance, keeps the revenue and is paid $100,000.00 annually by the county.
“The railroad will not halt operations unless ordered by to do so by the courts, Wilkinson said.”
This reader adds: Then why cancel Thomas? Stand up to them Filmore and Western…Nobody is on the side of overbearing government.
(Note to Minnesota friend: Tried hard to interject as little politics as possible!)
I totally agree. Sadly, I would think recent events only make a venue like this more important for anyone who wants to film a movie on or around “live” tracks.
Considering how many movies and TV shows have been shot on the Fillmore and Western I’m surprised there hasn’t been any Hollywood muscle applied here in support of the railroad.
Or maybe the film industry doesn’t have the clout it once did in California. Somehow I doubt it.
Read the railroad’s side of the story on the Fillmore and Western’s website.
My question is, “What other use would Ventura County commissioners like to see for the F&W tracks?” If it were King County, WA, it would be to replace those nasty, smelly diesel locomotives and tawdry blue-collar jobs with a nice bicycle trail for yuppies on weekends.
this is what happens when you live in a liberal rat hole called ca. they destroy everything including railroads
Remember Penn Station of NYC. If it is destroyed, it is to late to lament. Maybe it could be designated a historical landmark.
The Venture county commissioner, wants to turn The Fillmore and Western right away into a bike trail.
Make me wonder if there’s some “glassy-eyed greenie-ism” goin’ on out there, “rails to trails” seems to be the new religion for some of those people. There’s a tourist line in New York State going through the same grief right now.
I can understand “rails to trails” if the line’s been abandoned and the trackage removed, but to demolish a perfectly good railroad? Makes no sense. One day they may be VERY sorry they did that!
Sounds like the county of Ventura has an ulterior motive for the line. Just watch; The bastards will rip the line out.
Sounds like the county of Ventura has an ulterior motive for the line. Just watch; The bastards will rip the line out.
Sorry about the repeats!
Sounds like the county of Ventura has an ulterior motive for the line. Just watch; The bastards will rip the line out.
Yeah, it’s an under the table deal. The county has already selected the new operator and is doing their best to starve out the F&W. They have a contract to operate over the branch for 6 more years and a contract with the county to maintain the track for the same amount of time. So there is back scratching going on behind the scenes. One wonders how a contract would mean anything after this series of events. Beware new operator, you could face the same thing when the administrator changes and the new one does not like your company or gets a better offer from the next guy.
The UP has no customers on the old Santa Paula Branch right now. the one customer closed up shop recently.