John:
You,of all people, certainly are no freeloader!
I have just signed on to this very interesting Forum. I'm no stranger to narrow gauges on two continents, as you already know. I do not know what has been said about this subject previously -- your post leaped out at me when I first opened the Messages List.
A litle background to what I'm about to write: one of my earlier excursion experiences was on the Sierra RR of California in 1959 (my earliest was on the Virginia & Truckee in 1949). For the Sierra trip (the Sierra still connected with the ng West Side Lumber Co. then) from Oakdale to Tuolumne, California, one could send in by mail for an excursion packet (as I recall), either one for riding the train or one for caravanning -- as as train chasing was called then. I was in college, couldn't afford the packet for riders, but could afford the caravanning packet. It had a schedule a road & track map of the area, & other info. Also a ticket which was to be taped to the windshied of one's car and which gave favorable parking at certain places.
As it turned out, the train left from Oakdale but we weren't able to get away on time so we did not catch the excursion until Jamestown with Sierra #3 doing switching and other moves there.
Soon, #28 left with the excursion train for Sonora and Tuolumne. Pickering Shay #8 took it from Standard to Ralph (I'd never seen a Shay before). I also had never heard of Tuolumne or the West Side Lumber Co. However, we crossed the WS tracks at Tuolumne and I immediately refocussed on the narrow gauge. It was a Sunday, nobody was around the West Side, so I climbed the fence, roamed the WS yards,took photos,etc. We "flew blind" and followed a dirt road to WS's Camp 8. I've been a WS & a narrow gauge fan ever since.
The Sierra excursion returned to Jamestown and Oakdale; by the time we got back to Jamestown from the WS, #28 had returned from Oakdale and was heading into the roundhouse at dusk.
The point is that we knew from the caravanning packet where the Sierra excursion was supposed to be and did not have to waste time, gas, & patience trying to locate it -- or endanger ourselves or anyone else in driving too fast on very secondary roads to try to find it. The organizer of the excursion was the Central Coast RR Club with its private car named "Ferroquinologst". I heard later that the Club had sold a lot of the caravan packets and had thus earned a tidy sum of extra money which they might not otherwise have seen.
Why not do much the same thing for the C&TS or the D&S or any other excursion? For people who know the country well, such a packet might be less helpfull (but still a souvenir!). It still would give an approximate schedule of events -- runbys, etc. -- for people who are new or uncertain about the country. Such a packet also could provide some historical info, engine info, safety info, places to not be and places to be, how to conduct oneself around an engine (e.g.: look for moving trains on a second track, don't ever step on rail reads, keep away from switch points & frogs, etc, etc.).
An example which we witnessed: my wife and I rode the Friday night D&S special to a picnic dinner at Cascade Wye during the 2006 Durango Narrow Gauge Convention. When the train returned to the Durango station, it was raining, it was dark, and the rails were wet and very slick. The D&S had turned all the lights in the area and then opened the gates across the tracks at the north end of the yards. Passengers then could get out of the area more quickly and thus out of the rain and into their cars or nearby hotels. One woman was in such a hurry that she started to cut across the tracks before reaching the gate. She headed diagonally across the tracks behind the train towards the gate over the tracks. She stepped right on the rail head with slippery-soled shoes and promptly slipped and fell -- badly. She could not get up, was screaming and crying loudly and was eventually taken away in an ambulance. A warning, either by the train crew before the passengers were allowed off the train or by being contained in some sort of information packet could have prevented this. Insurance campanies probably would like this sort of information handed out ahead of time, too.
Not stepping on railheads or around switches was something I learned before I was 8 years old.
So sell "caravan" or "railfan" packets for non-riders, earn some extra money for the excursion sponsors and railroad,and have safer ralfans who enjoyed the trip a lot more. The packets would become collectors' items and also would tell spouses or significant others a bit more about what will be or is going on.
Best regards, Hart Corbett
