“For a variety of reasons we were unable to secure the necessary permissions to operate the train this year,” a note on the train’s Facebook page reads.
While Toys for Tots had been in discussions with Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks, the railroad ultimately did not provide clearance for the train to operate, Marine Staff Sgt. Patrick Lurenz tells Trains.
Lurenz coordinates the annual project with Gunnery Sgt. Vinny Roman. With the train scheduled to run on Dec. 7, “We had to make a decision and say, ‘I can’t be a week in front of the event and not have a backup plan if it’s not a go for this year… My impression is not that they don’t want to do it, I just don’t think right now they can do it, or it just didn’t happen in time this year.”
The train ran last year from Binghamton to Delanson, in New York.
“Norfolk Southern is honored to have served as one of the sponsors of the Capital Region Toys for Tots train for the last four years, maintaining our commitment to participate through the train’s 20th anniversary run in 2018. Prior to last year’s event, Norfolk Southern advised Capital Region Toys for Tots that we would not be able to continue our participation in the train excursion in the future,” a NS representative says.
Bennett Levin, who owns the E8s and some passenger cars that ran on last year’s train, was involved in the attempt to put together this year’s train. Levin says he doesn’t know why NS was unable to clear the train, and also notes that management had committed last year only to run the 2018 train. Asked whether the E8s would have been part of this year’s train, he says “we never got to that point” where the consist was being planned. The engines are currently in storage.
Lurenz says the passing of former Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman in March may have had an impact on the process. Boardman was a vocal supporter of the Toys for Tots train, both when he ran Amtrak and after his retirement. Lurenz says that Toys for Tots didn’t realize at the time how much Boardman and his chief of staff Brian Gallagher helped smooth the way for the train to run each year.
“It’s not that we took it for granted. We didn’t know there was that much logistical work to do,” Lurenz tells Trains.
Last year’s train delivered about 18,000 of the 250,000 toys the group distributed to local organizations, Lurenz says. Most of those organizations cannot afford to send trucks to the distribution centers in the immediate Capital Region. Toys for Tots is now working on assembling teams of trucks to handle the deliveries to the localities the train would have served.
Where the absence of the train will be felt is mostly in the ability of Toys for Tots to show large donors firsthand the impact their donations will have, Lurenz says. By riding on the train and seeing the large crowds of children waiting at each stop, donors get a real sense of what their gifts can mean, which helps to convince them to repeat their donations. The train also serves to publicize the project in general, and help the public know where they can donate, or receive gifts.
My daughter brought home a flyer from school yesterday saying this is still going on. It states the train will be in Binghamton at 9am on December 7th with hot cocoa & donuts, with Santa arriving at 10am. Is this event actually happening?
If it is a “liability” issue, my question is, why do we allow laws to stay on the books that would let someone sue these railroads? It should be prohibited.
Norforlk & Southern only run a couple of trains a day on the former Delaware & Hudson line between Binghamton and Delanson and theirs a couple of sidings that trains could pass each other so it shouldn’t be a problem . the higher ups in management are scrouges don’t seem to care about the kids this is meant for at Christmas FOR SHAME ! But guaranteed management will not cancel their Christmas BONACES !
All the reports indicate that rail business is down, yet somehow they can’t accommodate this very special train. It is indicative of the current state of railroading. If they elect to pass on such a PR opportunity, there must be more wrong than we know. Is there a future for railroading?
I guess when it comes to Precision Scheduled Railroading, business has no room for sentimentality.
Rail roading: the can’t do industry.
Look at the record. The new management team isn’t supporting much of anything. Did Boardman so control the rallroad that nobody else knew what was happening? If so, that does spell trouble for the company’s future. Let the board know your feelings right away while you’ll likely do something.
That is a shame that the NS could not swee their way to clear thre Train-SHAME ON THEM!!!!!
In NS’s defense, they have so few operations managers these days that they’d likely have to pull in staff from hundreds of miles around. And other essential work would go undone.
In the mid-2000s, GE wanted to make a locomotive commercial on NS. NS said no. We made the commercial out West.
This is a tough situation for all concerned.
Most Class 1s frequently schedule and operate military specials on less than 10 days notice.
However, these special trains usually run long distances, make good money, don’t make stops in the boondocks, don’t bring the general public onto the right-of-way, and generate little-to-no insurance liability exposure.
The Grinch is actually a white thoroughbred horse.
Some national truck line or a right-thinking local carrier has a great opportunity to smoke NS’s backsides and provide vehicles.
Or, the Marines can get an Army transportation battalion from Fort Drum, and do wonders for military recruiting. My friend John Rice also had a great idea about using Ospreys.
Regardless, NS has stepped in it. Sad thing is, they don’t care. And NS likely has figured out their shippers don’t care either.
I noticed none of the Binghamton, Oneonta and Albany newspapers mentioned this either yesterday or today. I took it upon myself to tell Fox News this was happening. Nothing there, either. How sure is ‘Trains’ that a train was scheduled let alone cancelled?
George Pins: Thanks for the correction; I was not aware of that.
CSX could pull something off. They own trackage in Upstate New York and they could possibly operate a TFT train.
I think George Pins has it right. Without a National entity like Amtrak being used to cover insurance no company can afford to go before it’s stockholders and say we lost XXX million this quarter account of a passenger train accident.
I wish they (NS and other over large RRs) would come right out and say the truth about this but that would give political ammo to the groups who want more passenger rail.
Wonder why the public thinks railroads stink?
@Al Dicenso: I call BS on behalf of the “whiners”. If UP can run 41 from Houston to College Station on 10 days notice, passenger cars and all, NS can run a special with a years notice if they so chose. NS makes it “hard” intentionally so to keep people from asking. NS stuffed a roundhouse full of heritage painted locos (and took them all out of service) with only a few days notice to the press. They can do what they are motivated to do.
If I was the Marines, I would start using Ospreys to make the deliveries. Not only are they more fun to watch coming and going, but the kids will remember it much longer than a train horn.
NS gives no reason for the cancellation. Maybe there are reasons, but maybe none at all. Will never forget the report of no toilets for road crews to use in locomotives so this railroad issued plastic bags to contain the refuse and pitch out the window……. This is bad form NS
Kudos to you guys. You scooped the local (Albany, Oneonta) media on this. Maybe Schumer can distract himself from his political trapeze act long enough to remedy this. It does not require herculean effort to schedule a train run between Binghamton and Albany on December 7 when it’s only November 20.
Maybe this issue should have been pursued earlier and more openly. Once the USMCR noticed the project was in trouble, it might have put more light on what was going on.
The train passes through three congressional districts. Maybe the three congressmen representing those districts dropped the ball. Maybe Gillibrand and Schumer, New York’s two senators, could have done something about this. Maybe Cuomo, New York’s governor, could have put some pressure on NS.
The three significant cities the train visits are Binghamton, Oneonta and Albany. They each have media and colleges, Those cities’ media and academia should illuminate the who, what and why of this fiasco. This magazine could do some work on these lines, or at least keep this sad affair visible. And, no ‘maybe’ about it, now is the time for the USMCR to start building towards 2020.
Never let a little thing like being nice to needy families at Christmas time get in the way of bureaucratic nonsense.
Al Dicenso – I believe your last sentence is incorrect. I raised this question with Fred Frailey a couple of years back, with me taking your belief. Fred opined that legally, if they wished to, BNSF could reinstate the Super Chief tomorrow. Amtrak has no argument with one of “their” freight railroads running whatever passenger trains they choose.
It’s the insurance issue. Lots of excited kids could easily get on the right-of-way. One of two of them get killed and the costs would be in the millions. Smart move on the part of NS.
It’s because of Precision Scheduled Railroading Norfolk Southern is trimming the fat meaning getting rid of things that are not essential in running the railroad.
George Pins is absolutely correct; Amtrak is the villain here, not NS. NS ran the train last year as a last minute favor to TFT, and stated clearly that they would not be able to do it again. The logistics required for NS, or any other freight, to do so are far more burdensome than you whiners imagine. Amtrak has the crews, equipment, insurance, and trackage rights to do the job, and refused, both last year and this. Put the blame where it belongs, and thank NS for rescuing the trip last year. And btw, CSX, as a contractor with Amtrak, I believe would be prohibited from doing so as well.