Saratoga & North Creek Railway Operator Thrilled With Results

http://poststar.com/news/local/new-rail-operator-thrilled-with-results/article_beca62ca-21e5-11e1-9631-001871e3ce6c.html

We have been sending a bunch of people at the hotel over to the Polar Express. I had a kid bust out of the elevator and tell me he was going to see Santa last Saturday. A short while later I saw a group of people coming back from the 6pm trip.

Glad to see they're doing well. hopefully it'll stay that way.

My only concern is that they should have the train leave NC around 6:30, not arrive in Saratoga then. That way it'll force people to stay in NC for a bit before leaving town. Or maybe they just want people to eat on the train..

It was sold out when we tried to board.    

Great for them.  

Prices include train travel and lift ticket. I didn't see any date restrictions:



https://www.sncrr.com/trips/snow-train/lift-packages.html

Seems like a good deal for non-passholders, but the length of the journey would make me think pretty hard about ever using it.  Pulls out of Saratoga at 7 AM and doesn't get to North Creek until 9:20 - and then you have to be shuttled up the mountain.  All in all close to a three hour journey door to door (assuming you need to leave your house, drive to the train station, park and be there a few minutes before the train pulls out).  

Kind of hard to justify when you can go door-to-door in the car in about an hour.  I guess the appeal is sitting back and enjoying a drink on the ride home - but I think I'd rather do the hour drive and then have my drink at home!

All the best to them, though.  I would think they'd do well with groups of non-regular skiers.

Standard Schedule & Fares

I would think a Friday night train from Saratoga to North Creek might make sense for NYC people who don't have a car.

tom

TomCat wrote

I would think a Friday night train from Saratoga to North Creek might make sense for NYC people who don't have a car.

tom

  Good lord, you could be in SLC and on your third drink in the same time that would take.

TomCat wrote

I would think a Friday night train from Saratoga to North Creek might make sense for NYC people who don't have a car.

tom

When I lived in NYC I looked at going to Killington via Amtrak with my wife and boy. It cost more than renting a car, it took longer, (with a later arrival) and unless you want to carry ski equipment around NYC at rush hour you would need to rent equipment. You would also be at Killington without a car.

There is a potential NYC market (singles) for this, but it needs to be worked. The problem is that when I was single and living in NYC I had a car or knew someone else who had a car. A car is way easier than the train.

As Benny said, you might be able to get to SLC quicker than you would get to North Creek.

Well, I agree with the negatives. I was just figuring that if people were willing to take a train from Saratoga (I assume almost everyone in Saratoga has a car) then it might appeal to people in NYC without a car.

In any case I wish the railroad luck and hopefully it brings people to North Creek.

tom

Surely doesn't cater to die-hards.  But for the family/beginner pool that Gore embraces it's a great idea.

 It would be sweet in the spring, get there later to let the snow soften up, hit NC after for some drinks and pass out on the ride home.  I would consider it if I were south of saratoga, at least give it a whirl.  Trains are sweet!

Chris wrote

It would be sweet in the spring, get there later to let the snow soften up, hit NC after for some drinks and pass out on the ride home.

The only issue with this is that the Train leaves NC at 4:00pm. Not nearly enough time to get out to NC for some drinks. I think the plan is to sell the drinks on the train.

The railroad's press conference last Thursday sure got a lot of coverage.  Besides the article in the Post-Star, there were prominent articles in the Saratogian and the Times Union.  The TU ran another article on the front page of Sunday's print edition about freight potential on the rail line.

Granted, the ski trains will probably not have much appeal to the hardcore skiers on this Forum.  But there's a market out there, and Iowa Pacific will do a first class effort to make it work.  The fact that they are making a point of calling the winter excursions "snow trains" rather than "ski trains" speaks to the point that they are seeking a broader market than purely skiers.

The only other ski train that I know of in the US is the Denver to Winter Park ski train, which I rode nearly 20 years ago.  With the Saratoga - North Creek ski trains (sorry, I still call it a "ski train") starting up later this month, I hunted down my photos, scanned a few in, and wrote up a 20 years past due trip report.

Unfortunately the Denver Ski Train stopped operating on March 29, 2009.

From the link:

"The Ski Train made is final run to Winter Park on March 29, 2009

The Ski Train equipment has been sold to Algoma Central Railway Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway.

The Ski Train has operated at a consistent loss over 21 years.  Profitability had never been the controlling issue with the Ski Train.  However, more recently it had faced additional, serious challenges including, escalating costs - particularly liability coverage; operational conflicts with freight traffic, substantial uncertainties posed by redevelopment of Denver's Union Station; as well as long-term impacts resulting from the nation's economic crisis in 2009.  Regrettably, the Ski Train could no longer be operated under these conditions.  Thanks Denver for 69 years!"

I think the company running the North Creek train tried to restart the Denver Train but where unable to do it.

There is a ski train out of Boston to Wachusett.

x10003q wrote

Unfortunately the Denver Ski Train stopped operating on March 29, 2009.

I think the company running the North Creek train tried to restart the Denver Train but where unable to do it.

Right.  That's all in my post.  

Iowa Pacific (the company running the North Creek train) attempted to take over operation from the former owner in 2009, but unfortunately Amtrak derailed the transaction.  That's too bad because Iowa Pacific was expected to be successful with the operation, as they have been with their other rail lines.

Adk Jeff wrote

Right.  That's all in my post.  

If it was in your post I would not have mentioned the end of the Ski Train. It is in your link.

No, X, you're wrong.  The information that you cut-and-pasted into your post above is contained in my blog post on Saratoga Skier.  Of course I also added information that you left out regarding Iowa Pacific's attempt to revive the train in '09 and why that failed.  Pretty important information that's not part of your cut-and-paste, in fact the story is really incomplete without that information.  Maybe you missed that in my blog post, maybe you chose to omit it, I don't really care.  But reading just your forum post leaves a reader with an incomplete story.  But thanks for reading anyway.

I'm told the first train of the season brought 125 visitors into North Creek.

A few unintended consequences:

http://poststar.com/news/local/0f376198-a785-11e1-862c-001a4bcf887a.html

... how does that happen with the recent rains?

I think a bike/snowmobile path would drive a lot more revenue to North Creek and every town in between.  Its the railroads domain and if they do it using there own money fine.  If they are getting public funds I call bull.  Its time to spend our money the way the masses want.