Passenger Trains > Photos from Inside the PRS Special Excursion, April 2-3

Photo #1 Lunch, second day, Silver Lariat, Photo #2 Great service on the Silver Lariat, Photo #3 Lower seating, Silver Lariat

---

---

---

Photo #4 Inside the Pony Express, Photo #5 Inside one of the Amtrak coach, Photo #6 Inside full length dome ex Santa Fe 511

---

---

---

Photo #7 Silver Lariat, Photo #8 Silver Lariat, Photo #9 Great job Russell Homan!

---

---

---

Great tour... thanks so much for sharing.

These pix are great but I am worried that their are no young people in the pictures. Who is going to continue this hobby when we are all gone?

Admission- I rode midwest interurbans in the 1920's!

Stone:

There were some young people aboard (PRS staff for example), including members of most of the rail/transit groups in Southern California and at least two I recognized from Northern California.

There were some with disabilities aboard and I noticed like you many "senior" types some with canes.

This is not a criticism but my initial observation.

You have known me a long time when we were both younger but time has moved on for both of us.

I welcome any follow-up either here in this forum or you can e-mail me directly.

ken15

I think the fare for this trip was close to $400.

I would imagine most young railfans would find that difficult to come up with (up and through this with young families).

There are young railfans out there... plenty of them (although not my kids... sadly).

Just a few more. Photo #3 was lunch the first day. Great food!

---

---

---

I see a Lima Locomotives works Tshirt on some guy there. That sticks out. Thanks for the pics

Did you happen to take any photos of the brewery near LATC? I saw you.

---

Lots of fans in the Pony Express!

---

---

---

Two PRS car hosts are not yet 21. There was a 5 year old passenger with his father; they were at dinner with me.
The fares kept many young married folks from joining the trip. Having said this, I agree that the societies and clubs have to get more participation at all ages. Young folks have longer to serve.
Lindsay Smith

stone23 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These pix are great but I am worried that their
> are no young people in the pictures. Who is going
> to continue this hobby when we are all gone?
>
> Admission- I rode midwest interurbans in the
> 1920's!

The young people were all chasing the train! Haven't you seen all the pictures posted here the last few days?

Barry Draper

barrydraper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> stone23 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > These pix are great but I am worried that their
> > are no young people in the pictures. Who is
> going
> > to continue this hobby when we are all gone?
> >
> > Admission- I rode midwest interurbans in the
> > 1920's!
>
> The young people were all chasing the train!
> Haven't you seen all the pictures posted here the
> last few days?
>
> Barry Draper

And yes, we hope that the young train chasers will continue their love of trains and ultimately have the big bucks to take these wonderful trips---but I have a weird question---if the young ones chasing and taking the pics etc have the time to do this, they obviously don't have daily jobs--so who is paying for their hobby? :-)

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

The "skewing old" concern regarding fan trips has also been expressed in the railway preservation community. Some of us make snide remarks when "Thomas the Tank Engine" visits our preservation sites, or when we run "pumpkin patch" trains, but if just a fraction of the young people who attend such events get "bit by the railway bug", it bodes well for the survival of our hobby.
My wife was a bit shocked by the price of the weekend excursion, but I explained that I was present when the Colton-Palmdale line was opened back in 1967 or 68, and this might be my only chance to ride a passenger train on it. Back before Amtrak, the local railroads (SP, UP and Santa Fe) all had extra cars sitting around, and could run excursions fairly cheaply. Today the logistics are probably an order of magnitude more difficult.

The one thing that stands out is there are not a lot of smiling faces.

Ya, and what's your point?

CarolVoss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> And yes, we hope that the young train chasers will
> continue their love of trains and ultimately have
> the big bucks to take these wonderful trips---but
> I have a weird question---if the young ones
> chasing and taking the pics etc have the time to
> do this, they obviously don't have daily jobs--so
> who is paying for their hobby? :-)


Uhhhh, the excursion was a weekend deal right meaning the M-F, 9-5 young folk were all out enjoying their weekend...

;)

Thanks for all your comments on young railfans. As for myself (in my late 80's) I have four grandsons and one of them calls himself "his train grandson" even though he just won a music scholarship to Rutgers- New Brunswick University.

In a few weeks he and I will ride a round-trip on Amtrak to Quantico, VA from Philly to visit my Marine grandson. Also in May his father (my son) and he will ride the Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland, OR.

And about ten years ago, that Marine grandson and I rode the Ghan from Alice Springs to Adelaide in Australia. At least I do try and keep the interest going in my family!

espeeDad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CarolVoss Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > And yes, we hope that the young train chasers
> will
> > continue their love of trains and ultimately
> have
> > the big bucks to take these wonderful
> trips---but
> > I have a weird question---if the young ones
> > chasing and taking the pics etc have the time
> to
> > do this, they obviously don't have daily
> jobs--so
> > who is paying for their hobby? :-)
>
>
> Uhhhh, the excursion was a weekend deal right
> meaning the M-F, 9-5 young folk were all out
> enjoying their weekend...
>
> ;)

I realize that, but if you are a regular post-er here on TO you know that there are quite a few young ones who are out chasing and shooting pictures on weekdays as well----------school and jobs don't seem to get in the way for them and they use lots of gas to run all over the state to get the pics that they want.

C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA