Well today concluded a very successful weekend for the Sumpter Valley. For starters, we only had to sell six tickets this morning to surpass last years total ridership. Needless to say we did that within a few minutes of opening and put ourselves considerably ahead by the afternoon. On Saturday we ran a completely sold out Night Train, many passengers said it was the best they'd ever been on, and made quite a tidy profit from it. Also, new equipment and parts continue to arrive, the latest acquisitions being a D&RGW bunkcar, rather unusual weed spayer, and the center bearing and ring rails for the Alamosa turntable. The Form 4 for the 19 has been approved and we are waiting for the waiver to arrive. On Friday the locomotive will be steamed up for testing and adjustment. Also on Friday, we will be hosting a special excursion for a large group of museum curators who will be visiting the railroad and other local historic attractions. In the restoration department, work continues on flatcar 1185 which is being restored to it's origional White Pass & Yukon livery. We have also begun Form 4 and ultrasonic testing work on locomotive number 20 as the first preliminary step towards a full restoration to active service. The yard itself is also getting some attention, with several of our larger pieces being relocated for better public access. Replica builder and number plates for our locomotives have also arrived (contact me Jim Wrinn), are available in both of our giftshops, and will soon be available online through our website as well. And, don't forget that we'll be running our third annual Fall Foliage photo trains this October, stay tuned for more information.
Also, we would like to congratulate Cindy Christy on qualifying as fireman on Heisler number 3, plus to thank all our hard working volunteers who've made this weekend, and season in general, one of our most successful ever.
Thanks Very Much, Taylor
