The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s North Pole Adventure trains that were to have departed from Akron in November and December have been shifted to the northern end of the line.
A notice posted on the railroad’s website indicated that trains that had been set to depart from Akron will now depart from Rockside Road Station in Independence due to track closures.
The National Park Service, which owns the track used by the CVSR, closed a significant portion of the route earlier this month due to erosion near the Columbia Run Picnic area north of Boston.
As a result, departure times have also changed. Trains that had been slated to leave Akron at 7 p.m. will now depart Rockside Road at 5:30 p.m.
Trains that had been scheduled to depart Rockside Road at 7:30 p.m. will now leave at 8 p.m. Seat assignments remain unchanged for all North Pole Adventure trains.
The notice did not say directly say if North Pole Adventure riders will still visit the North Pole.
In past years, the North Pole has been the Peninsula station where volunteers dressed as elves greeted the trains. The station also had Christmas-themed decorations.
However, Peninsula is several miles south of the area where the Cuyahoga Riverbank erosion has occurred.
An alternative could be to set up the North Pole at Brecksville station, Jaite, or the Fitzwater maintenance facility.
The notice, which was presented as a letter from Santa Claus told Akron ticket holders, “you will have more time with me.”
It went on to say, “And for the first time, you will ride with me to see my North Pole workshop up close with all of my elves hard at work making all of your holiday dreams come true.
“Along the way, onboard elves will ensure you have plenty of hot chocolate and cookies and your letters to me will be delivered directly through the North Pole Postmaster.”
That suggests Santa will board the train at Rockside rather than at the North Pole in Peninsula and that an abbreviated North Pole will be set up somewhere along the route.
The trip time will be 75 minutes. Akron passengers who are unable to travel to Rockside station will offered a refund of their fare.
In a related development, the CVSR said it is placing additional tickets for North Pole Adventure trains on sale for 5:30 p.m. departures.
The North Pole Adventure will operate Nov. 11-12, Nov. 25-30, and Dec. 1-21. Coach tickets are $45 per person for weekday trips and $47 per person for weekend trips.
Other seating classes include Deluxe ($65 and $67), executive St. Lucie ($85 and $87), executive Solarium ($85 and $87), first class ($90 and $92), and premium ($75 and $71).
More information is available at https://www.cvsr.org/npa-info/
Tags: Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, CVSR North Pole Adventure, CVSR trains
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October 28, 2022 at 11:40 pm |
I’ve been told by people in the know that Fitzwater yard is going to be the “North Pole” now, and the erosion location is just South of the last switch out of the engine facility at Fitzwater yard, so they will not even be going as far as Brecksville for the foreseeable future.
CVSR also received the locomotives that they leased from Horizon Rail that had been on the front of the NS train that derailed a couple of weeks ago in Sandusky, including former Shelly Materials SD-18 (ex-DM&IR) “Flash” from their Kent facility.