Saratoga and North Creek Railway: ALL ABOARD !!!

Come on ride the train....In a new article posted just this morning....has the choo choo arrived?

http://www.rr.com/local/topic/article/rr/4473267/44865232/North_Creek_hopes_visitors_take_a_train/1

Some Highlights.

"Two trains a day, Thursday through Monday, will travel between North Creek and Saratoga Springs, offering morning and evening connections. A third train will operate between Hadley/Luzerne and North Creek.The first trains are expected to operate by mid-July, with a tentative start date of July 14, pending regulatory approvals."


"A new operator, Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings, has brought in updated equipment, including two full-length dome cars built in the 1950s that once operated on such storied trains as the Santa Fe Super Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles. Iowa Pacific, under its contract with Warren County, is also committed to running 15 ski trains next winter, the first to North Creek since the late 1930s."

"At the Hudson River Trading Co. downtown,..... owner Laurie Arnheiter's making plans to expand her store, which covers three levels, and she points to other nearby businesses that are holding their own."

"At the Copperfield, across the street from the train station, General Manager Erik Karner says the inn had weddings each weekend during June, and that its restaurants will go to a full seven-day schedule on Friday."

"Goodspeed said the project has faced a series of delays, many of them regulatory, and suggests it wasn't necessarily the regulators' fault. "The developer has got to play by the rules," Goodspeed said. He believes Front Street has started doing that. "Over the past four to six weeks, Front Street has been making tremendous leaps because they've decided" to work with the regulators, he said."

Low lights:

"But several storefronts also are empty and for sale."

"Dick Carlson, a resident of nearby North River who works in the resort village of Lake George, says the train will take two hours to make the trip from Saratoga Springs, because track speeds are limited to 30 mph. He also believes that people will want their cars once they arrive."

"A sore spot with townspeople is Olympic Regional Development Authority's decision not to offer summertime activities at Gore. Lundin, the ORDA spokesman, said it lost money, although Carlson said more marketing would have drawn enough business to make it profitable."

That sounds familiar, oh yea I just said that last night.

While the train's success is still unproven, there's some "guaranteed" money for the County from the new operator with a chance to make more if it's fruitful and a sizable reduction in County expenses for the RR line.

Interesting what a change in operators/key players/attitude can do for an enterprise's future. The county is already bucks ahead versus the previous operator.

I truly don't think people will ride it to ski but the tourist trains "might" work for awhile. More importantly the future possiblity of freight is an option for the new operator for the first time. Hope it works.

Railway opening delayed by plants on track

http://poststar.com/news/local/article_8afc00b0-a289-11e0-9c2a-001cc4c002e0.html

Snowballs wrote

I truly don't think people will ride it to ski but the tourist trains "might" work for awhile. More importantly the future possiblity of freight is an option for the new operator for the first time. Hope it works.

I'm with you on the hope part. The 30mph seems like a tough hurdle to overcome.

Question for those from Saratoga... would you use it to ski, if the train went 60mph and saved you 15 mins of driving/traffic in exchange for the time spent in the terminal and taking the shuttle?

Contrary to what the article says, I think NC is pretty convenient by car. One advantage that Gore has over say Kmart.

I know several tri-state Gore families that the train line would really help. Sometimes 1 parent comes up with a car full of kids and the other parent needs to stay home and work.  The working parent wants to get up to Gore for the weekend but hates to bring a second car up.  The train is slow but it is quite convenient to arrive right in North Creek.  Prior to the train running, I used to drive my husband to Albany or Warrensburg to get on the bus.  Last winter Greyhound ran a bus directly to North Creek, but the only way you could ride it was if you purchased a round trip package with lift tickets.  For someone with a season pass who is just trying to meet up with their family and only needs a 1-way ticket, that did not work. I think it would be great if they could remedy the 30 mph limits and get the train to move a bit faster.

Perhaps if they get some freight contracts from Barton's (don't hold your breath) they will repair the tracks and haul buns, aka go fast. For those who don't know, Barton's mine is hinting they may have a market for their tailings from the mining operation. Would be nice if they could clean up those tailing piles and gain some business.

One thing that is a big plus for the train's success:  tickets are priced realistically at $19 for a round trip adult ticket between Saratoga Springs and NC.  For my family of 4 I think it comes out to $64 for us to ride the train to NC and back.  That really is not bad if you figure 50 cents/mile (that's the IRS mileage rate) to drive, and our round trip mileage from near Exit 16 is approximately 100 miles.    Certainly the train is less convenient and takes longer, but at least the cost factor isn't way out of the realm of reality.  I'm a bit of a train enthusiast anyway, but I will definitely want to try the ski trains this winter.  Could be a lot of fun relaxing on the train and enjoying an adult beverage (me, not the kids) on the way home.  This (train service directly to the ski area) is something really unique that could be a draw for Gore if marketed and packaged properly.  Winter Park is the only other ski area that comes to mind with direct rail access.  I rode that ski train once about 20 years ago and it was absolutely fantastic: spectacular scenery and a ton of fun hanging out  in the coach and dome car drinking coffee on the way up and beer on the way back.  I really hope this works.

Edited, to add the Saratoga and North Creek Railway's website:
http://www.sncrr.com/

The new rail operator is running TV commercials about the new line....." Come ride the scenic train ".  They show a few shots from the Toga-NC section AND alot of shots of a train running alongside Lake Champlain....over looking the big beautiful lake.

Anywho, they do have some VERY nice railcars lined up, cool looking and plenty of runs scheduled. Gotta give them credit for that. Big effort.

They are also actively trying to buy the section of track from NC to Tahawus to haul freight. This would kill the bike trail for the foresee able future.

Tourist train linking Saratoga and North Creek opens

http://poststar.com/news/local/tourist-train-linking-saratoga-and-north-creek-opens/article_49cf93c2-b3af-11e0-8759-001cc4c03286.html

Awesome!!

Snowballs wrote

They (Iowa Pacific, the new rail operator) are also actively trying to buy the section of track from NC to Tahawus to haul freight. This would kill the bike trail for the foresee able future.

That would be bad, but I suspect the parties involved will be able to work out a deal.  Hard to imagine there being much value to Iowa Pacific in that rail line, other than the salvage value of the steel rails.  The best outcome for North Creek would be having both the rail trail and a successful Saratoga North Creek tourist railway.  There's more information on this topic in this recent update on the Upper Hudson Rail Trail's website.

video by NELSAP

I love how the engine and cars say "Saratoga & North Creek". Now if they got just work on those tracks so they can pick up the pace...

I think they would prove to be pretty successful if they're able to get it going much faster. $19 is about what I pay to get to get to Gore and Back every day. But for two hours, each way? That's absurd. I understand it's supposed to be scenic and historic now, but if it stays this way It's gonna become pretty impractical and I honestly don't think it would last.

If they could double the speed/half the time, then we're talking. Hell, even if it was only an hour and 20 it would be much better. I wonder if anyone has tried riding it at that speed and tested how stable it was? I'm sure they just had some engineer (with a calculator, not a hat) figure it out though. Silly engineers..  ...

Anyhoots, I know there are a LOT of people who go to Gore from Saratoga/the surrounding area. If the train speed were much more practical for actual commuting, I think it would be a big hit. Especially if they had a monthly pass or a kids under 7 ride free deal.

They would definitely need a shuttle running to at least the ski bowl, but Gore proper would probably be the request. (Until people see Little gore as easily accessible and the lodge gets a little bigger to handle the load. Plus, then my secret parking spots are gone on busy days! )

They may want to run a few shuttles, too. That way you can choose if you wanna go right home after skiing or enjoy what downtown NC has to offer. Ideally, the train can help NC grow, and NC can help the train grow.

Looks like it runs a little faster at a point farther up the line....

Looks like those are Jeremy Davis' videos that he originally posted on the NELSAP discussion board.  There's some explanation there accompanying the videos regarding why the train is moving slowly in the first video, including:
"I found the reason why the train is going so slow in my first video. They need to stop the train where the line veers off the Amtrak line, manually switch it, pull forward, then switch it back. Then, it can continue. This is only 0.4 miles from where I took the video.

JD"

Good ideas Fuj regarding a pass and free/reduced kids' fare (the published kids fare isn't much of a discount).  I don't know if I'll ride the train before winter, but I'll definitely try the ski train.  I really hope the train succeeds, but as you mention Fuj, the 2-hour trip is a hurdle.

The TU ran an article today regarding the first week of operations and initiation of a downtown shuttle.  I suspect they'll have a winter shuttle up to the main Gore base area as well as the ski bowl.

Looks like the train itself is pretty sweet and doing some business:


photo courtesy of JD

Town has been VERY busy so far from the northward bound visitors, and some friends of mine took the train down to Saratoga to do the track thing, and they said it was great! It's early on, but so far everyone that I have talked to are very impressed.

Now it's time for North Creek, and especially Gore, to step up to the plate and provide these visitors something to do besides eating and shopping

One of the trains broke down already.  

http://poststar.com/news/local/engine-failure-interrupts-tourist-train-trip/article_cbac53f6-c1cb-11e0-869f-001cc4c002e0.html

100 visits a day is pretty decent for a start, IMO. Story from the Post Star.

North Creek merchants propose ways to capitalize on the new train in town

NORTH CREEK -- Business owners are confident the Saratoga and North Creek Railway will bring more and more visitors to Main Street in the coming year.

The question is whether they are ready for it, and if those tourists will find a community worth returning to.

Less than a month into operations, the railway currently brings about 100 riders into North Creek from Saratoga Springs each of the five days per week it operates, railway marketing associate Shelly Spendiff said. One recent day saw 170 travelers, she said.

Full Story.

Hi all,

Wanted to write up a quick trip report for the train - my apologies in taking so long to do so. We rode the train in late July. There were about 100 people onboard which wasn't bad considering it was midweek and it was only their second week. The train station in Saratoga is only 10 minutes away which is convenient. We splurged for the Dome Cars, which were $80 for two roundtrip, but really, that's not bad at all. We had a real, sit down, cooked to order breakfast onboard. I had a huge omelette, home fries, toast, coffee, etc, and was only $8, including tax! It was also quite a surreal experience eating breakfast as we rode along, passing by areas that I frequently cycle through, and where I had taken the previous videos.

It takes about 2 hrs to make it N. Creek. The best views are from Corinth-North Creek, the highlight being the Trestle in Hadley, where you are way above the Sacandaga River. It's an amazing view! The ride was smooth, enjoyable, friendly staff, etc. Another highlight was passing by Hickory, I really hope they can got on the Ski Train trips next year.

In N. Creek we went to some shops, saw the Depot Museum (highly recommended!) but, honestly at this point there is not much to do there if you don't have a car. This should change, especially in the Fall when Gore opens up for weekends and perhaps train riders can go to the gondola. Other attractions should have shuttles there-the rafting, tubing companies, and the Garnet mines. Why weren't they there yet? I don't know, but I'm sure that will change in the upcoming years.

So, we hit up Bar Vino downtown and enjoyed some wine and beer and conversation with one the owners, who said they are thrilled about the train. They wouldn't have even been open at that time of day midweek without it. In fact, the place was quite busy with other riders from the train.

We were in N. Creek for just under 4 hours, then headed back, and had a light supper along the way. You can have a full dinner too, prices were not crazy at all. They are hoping to get a liquor license soon too.

I think the Ski Trains this winter will be fantastic...not the fastest way to Gore, but if its snowing and you live near Saratoga, it will avoid driving in bad weather, plus, having an enjoyable ride and food will make for a full day.

Jeremy-NELSAP