tangent - Re: Here's another interesting photo maybe

Hi,

As a tangent thought, I preferred the box coaches to the passenger cars - better view than the coaches but not a Silver Vista dome. I think this is a railfan's point of view.

I think the general public prefers the faux "older" passenger cars even if they are not historic.

When I rode the Middletown & Hummelstown near Harrisburg PA. The crew mentioned that they had to live on the local business, not the odd-railfan who visited only once. On the ride up to the Indian Caves (sort of like the mine in the middle of the Georgetown Loop), they would discuss history of the 15-20 mile long ex-Reading branch from Hershey to Middletown.

On the way back, they had clowns, singing, and an overall festive atmosphere that brought in the locals. It was a nice party on rails. For me I enjoyed it but I was also interested in railfanning and stood out on the vestibule part of the time.

The locals would not have known the difference between the GE 50-tonner and a GP9. They were there for the fun. They would have noticed the difference between a diesel and a steamer (at the time was getting close to operational).

I'd still like to ride behind #19 one of these days.

FWIW

Doug vV