Another factor is that a FRIENDS charter will have way more people than a regular private charter, thus it does take longer. Say a normal charter has 40 patrons with 10 staff, thats 50 people to detrain. With a railroad sponsored trip like D&S runs, or FRIENDS type of train you are more likely to have 80 or more, plus staff, etc. So it just stands to reason it will take longer to get everyone on and off. To back-up my 30 minute estimate per runby lets break it down into 4 parts.
(1) From the time the train grinds to a stop and folks start getting off to the time the engine actually starts moving backwards...est. 7 minutes
(2) From the time the engine starts backing up, until the time it has the highball to make the runby...estimated another 7 minutes
(3) Backup to pick-up riders to the time it grinds to a halt...est 7 minutes
(4) From the time the train backing grinds to a halt and the time the engine starts to depart the runby location est 7 minutes.
4 x 7 equals 28 minutes. It might be off a little one way or the other.
I think this is why a lot of private charter operators do more than one runby per stop. The only extra time is the back-up and run of the second runby, or in theory another 14 minutes for that second shot!!!
Someone should take a stopwatch on this trip and test my theory on each segment of every runby, just for kicks. Obviously the train movement time will vary depending upon how far they backup for the runby, and how far beyond the photo line the train will travel. Sometimes they shortchange the video guys and stop the last car at the runby, so they can skip the backup move. This may save some time, but looks really phony on video.
It would be interesting to see how many photo runby locations and runbys were done on previous trips on the C&TS to get comparisons.
To me I think the best use of a photo special would be Antonito to Osier and back in one day. Good morning sun is good if you leave at 7-8am, and you get to shoot the gorge and tunnels in both directions if you wish to do so. Also the grade westbound is light which would not slow down the engine like going up Cumbres Pass. Also Cumbres Pass is very shootable from the highway!
The Friends trip going all across the line is good as well since after Osier it will be going westbound into the sun, and that allows for several good scenes upgrade between Osier and Cumbres Loop. Should be good to see pics of 463 again. One day I hope to get out there and see it for myself!
Greg
