Steam & Excursion > Interested in SP 18 charter on D&S?

I got this from Pete Lerro and thought it might be of interest to some folks here:

After two months of repairs, The Southern Pacific #18 “The Slim Princess” is now back in service. With the hard work from numerous contractors and D&S shop employees, a new cylinder has been fabricated and installed in the SP#18 at the D&S shop. In late June, a successful test run was made to Rockwood.The Durango & Silverton is interested partnering up with Lerro Productions to put on a photo charter with the Southern Pacific #18. On Sunday and Monday (August 25-26, 2019), the SP#18 will pull a mix freight and passenger train for 40 photographers and will feature photo locations from the Highline to Silverton. The SP #18 will be leaving the D&S in September so this will be one of the last opportunity to see the engine in action on the Durango & Silverton.The photo charter will cost $250.00 per day or $475.00 for both days. Each day will feature different locations with the exception that we will stop at the Highline on both days. Our consist will be 2-3 freight cars and two coaches.Because of the time constraint, we are seeking the level of interest before putting the charter on sale. If you are interested, please respond to this email. The railroad has requested that the cut off be August 1st. If there isn't enough interest by August 1st, the photo charter will not occur. Again, we know this is a last minute announcement but the railroad is interested in seeing a charter happen with the Souther Pacific #18 before it leaves.

If you are interested you can email Pete at: photocharters@lerroproductions.com

JBWX

Thanks for posting this, John! I've got a decision to make, now, as my birthday is August 24 (would be a great present for myself) and I've never been to the D&S before, but I don't have much time off and I'm not sure the funds are there for both this and the C&TS rotary run in the spring. Is there a minimum "go" number like the Friends do on C&TS charters?
~wko

If you want a for sure, take the D&S charter. Yes, the Friend's do have a minimum on their charters, the snow train last
Winter was cancelled due to lack of interest. As for the rotary, not even going to guess but if you don't have a number less
than say 75 you won't get a ticket for the rotary charter. The waiting list is several hundred deep.

Out

It is still not clear whether the D&S trip will go, although Pete said response has been good.  If the C&TS rotary trip comes to pass, as mentioned above the problem is not going to be meeting a minimum but how to handle all the people interested. When John Bush first announced the trip response was overwhelming.  But the show's not on until the money is in the farebox, and who knows what snow conditions will be like.  If money is an issue, the D&S trip has the advantage of being a relative bargain.  The rotary trip is likely to be much more expensive.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/19 17:36 by jbwest.

I hope the trip goes as planned. So she can get the much deserved publicity that she deserves. A locomotive restored in a park under a tent with lots of hard work from everyone in our group. I can't wait until she comes back home to Independence but it has been nice to see her run out on the DS mainline.  

CS

The Laws group is working with LADWP for ROW access South of Laws, maybe some day some mileage in home
territory might actually happen.

Out

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Laws group is working with LADWP for ROW
> access South of Laws, maybe some day some mileage
> in home
> territory might actually happen.
>
> Out

That would be nice, we'll take back up to Laws in the future someday. Everyone always asks if the line would be put back in from Lone Pine to Bishop. It wouldn't be cost effective for our group and most of the land is LADWP. We don't want to traverse over any publuc road crossings due how much things would have to change if that happened with the FRA etc etc. If we can get track from the engine house to the park in Independence and a little bit more in Laws I think everyone would be happy with that.

CS

The previoius outing to Laws showed that a lot of track is not necessary to get some good pictures.  If the museum is successful in rebuilding even a quarter-mile of track south, it will provide a nice venue for some short rides and some nice photo ops.

JBWX

I'm not sorry for the dollars I've got in that locomotive because it's surrounded by the best volunteer
steam team around.

Out