Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad says it will start selling tickets on Tuesday for steam excursions with the famed Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Berkshire that will take place Sept. 22-23 and 29-30. Each day the engine will pull two 2-hour trips through scenic Cuyahoga Valley National Park from Independence to Akron. A members only preview excursion is set for Sept. 21. The railroad is offering coach, table, and dome classes of seating for between $25 and $65 per person.
The locomotive is already set to pull excursions on Metra from Joliet to downtown Chicago on the weekend of Sept. 15 and 16. Its trips on Cuyahoga Valley have almost become an annual ritual of the early fall. But this year, they stand out more than other years due to the lack of mainline steam running.
Other than Union Pacific’s annual Frontier Days trip July 21 and a fund raiser for the UP Museum July 22 with 4-8-4 No. 844, one of Iowa Interstate’s Chinese-made 2-10-2s running in August, and Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 pulling dinner trains Sept. 8 and 9, there’s not much mainline steam to be hand in the U.S. this year.
Details on No. 765 excursions in Ohio: https://www.cvsr.com/steam/
I’ll never forget that morning at Roanoke, IN Jim Wrinn! Great steam sounds and great company to boot.
Hard to understand why.It never runs inside Indiana like it does to these other states.Has not been thru here since July 2015.Once again why do nt they got get the Pere Marquette 1225 out of Michigan if they need this??
Woo Hoo…..my tickets are hanging on the wall.
…there’s not much mainline steam to be HAD….
Cuyahoga Valley Preservation and Scenic Railway Association listed at AMAZON SMILE’s 1/2%.
what about 261 planning to run in Sep
No love for the Reading & Northern? Their 4-6-2, #425, just did a weekend running short, solo (8 mile) excursions on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic, which uses parts of the former Lehigh Valley and Central of New Jersey historic mainlines. In September, 425 is running Mountain Top, PA.- Jim Thorpe, PA., again on the aforementioned mains (CNJ-LV).
In October, 425 is running 2 weekends of Fall foliage specials from North Reading to Jim Thorpe, utilizing a combo of former Reading and CNJ lines, there is also the possibility of a “RAILFAN SPECIAL( 425 solo)” sometime that month.
A diesel will assist 425, but these trips should not be dismissed as “not mainline”, and the Pacific is certainly “mainline”.
I would be disappointed if no present TRAINS staffers are not familiar with the RRs mentioned above, they are part of Northeast US rail history.
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, not SG Main Line, but fit the criteria’s for all day steam enjoyment on all but speed.