Rare Mileage Trip To Cover ex-DT&I North End

The Ohio Rail Experience is offering a rare mileage trip in October on the north end of the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton.

The trip on Oct. 12, will travel from Leipsic, Ohio, to Diann Tower near Dundee, Michigan, and return for a 134-mile roundtrip.

Tickets range from $40 to $80 per person. The trip time is seven hours.

Among the locations through which the train will travel are Hamler, the crossing of the

CSX Willard Subdivision; Malinta; Liberty Center; and Delta, where the tracks go over the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern,

The train will have a concessions car and an array of items available for purchase in the Queen City Tavern car.

More information is available and tickets can be purchased at https://www.ohiorailexperience.com/2019-fall

Cincinnati Group Offering Rare Mileage Trips

Cincinnati Scenic Railway has announced a series of rare mileage excursions that will operate in southwest Ohio through its new Ohio Rail Experience operation.

On May 19, the group will offer a trip over the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton from Springfield to Lima.

Additional trips will run over former Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad trackage now operated by various Genesee & Wyoming properties on May 20 and Sept. 2-3.

Cincinnati Scenic Railway also operates the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad in Lebanon.

“In our part of the country, passenger trains are slipping further into the history books and that’s a shame. It can be difficult to properly interpret this kind of history in a static museum,” said General Manager Will Gawin says. “For that reason, our team honestly believes what we are doing is important for historic preservation. Our goal is to deliver an experience worth remembering to communities that might have forgotten how enjoyable a train ride can be.”

Rare Mileage Excursion set on R&N

An excursion to benefit steam locomotive restoration will run on May 5 on the Reading & Northern Railroad.

The Onieda Flyer will cover sections of the former Reading and Lehigh Valley railroads in a 96-mile round trip, traversing some segments that have not hosted a passenger train in more than 50 years.

The excursion train will leave R&N’s Port Clinton headquarters at 10 a.m. and return at 7 p.m.

Trip sponsor Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society said proceeds will benefit restoration of Boston & Main 4-6-2 No. 3713 in partnership with Steamtown National Historic Site.

The chapter wants to raise $225,000 this year for the restoration efforts. No. 3713 is set to return to service at Steamtown in 2020, after 62 years on static display.

Among the branches to be covered during the excursion are the former Reading Company Little Schuylkill and Catawissa branches, and parts of the Lehigh Valley’s New Boston and Hazleton branches via Onieda and Morea junctions.

Motive power will be two of R&N’s recently acquired MP15 diesel switcher locomotives, painted in a Reading-inspired green and yellow scheme. Three photo runbys are planned.

Tickets are $99 for adults and $69 for kids 12 and under. A Subway boxed lunch can be ordered as an option.

More information and tickets are available at http://www.laurellinesspecials.org, project3713.com or contact excursion co-chairperson Norm Barrett at 570-575-5320 or email him at nyowfan@msn.com

Pa. Short Line to Offer Rare Mileage Trips

A Pennsylvania short line railroad will be offering rare mileage excursions on June 10 over former Reading Company track.

The Union County Industrial Railroad is offering the excursions as part of a bicentennial celebration in Milton, Pennsylvania.

The trips will depart from the ConAgra Brands facility in Milton and travel toward New Columbia,  crossing the Susquehanna River en route. It will be the first public passenger service over the route since 1964.

Tickets are $10 and available only at the Milton Borough Hall at 2 Filbert Street. Sales begin April 10 and end on April 28 being sold on a first come, first served basis.

The Union County line is an affiliate of the North Shore Railroad.

Excursion to Cover Ex-Erie Branch Line

The Buffalo, Cattaraugus & Jamestown Scenic Railroad is offering rare mileage excursions on Nov. 12 and 12 over a former Erie Railroad/Erie-Lackawanna branch line in New York state.

The four-hour excursions will depart from Hamburg and travel to South Buffalo, using an Alco locomotive operated by the Buffalo Southern Railroad.

Passenger equipment will be two 1930s-era passenger cars and an open-air car.

The ex-Erie line being traveled was once a branch that handled traffic out of Buffalo to the Chicago-New York mainline via Jamestown, New York.

Scheduled passenger service last ran on the branch in 1955, being provided by a diesel-electric doodlebug in 1955.

Although the line is mostly intact, it is out of service where it connects with the ex-Erie mainline that is now operated by the Western New York & Pennsylvania.

Amtrak Offering Fall Foliage Specials

Amtrak has announced that it will offer another fall foliage excursion in the East this year with tickets going on sale on Oct. 3.

The train will depart at 8 a.m. from Penn Station in New York and 8:30 a.m. from Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey, on  Oct. 29 and 30.

Tickets are $149 per person and includes a boxed lunch, souvenir tote bag, and a commemorative pin. The child fare will be $74.50 and include the same amenities.

After stopping in Newark, the train will head west along the former Lehigh Valley Railroad and pass through the Musconetcong Tunnel, which opened in 1875.

After crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, the train will run along the Lehigh River to Allentown, passing the scenic farm country of Pennsylvania on the former route of the Queen of the Valley passenger train to Harrisburg. This line has been freight only since 1963.

From Harrisburg, the train will go east on Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor and have a photo stop at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The route to New York will use regular Amtrak rails, passing through the New York and Pittsburgh Subway at Zoo Tower in Philadelphia.

Arrival back in Newark is expected to be 6:10 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in New York.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase onboard the train.

Rare Mileage Trip Plannned in SW Pennsylvania

Wisconsin-based High Iron Travel has announced a private passenger car trip on freight-only tracks in southwestern Pennsylvania that were once owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The trip, named “Coal Goes To War,” will operate on July 28 between Pittsburgh and the West Virginia border on a route that primarily handles Norfolk Southern coal trains today.

The trip is a fund-raising venture to help pay for the restoration of Alto Tower in Altoona, Pa.

The special will be pulled by Bennett Levine’s Pennsy E units and feature an all private cars consist.

More details about the trip will be release once final approval is granted by NS and pricing is worked out with Amtrak.