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VarChandra
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NYC 3 maiden voyage under Varchandra ownership, Boston, May, 1992. |
Charter #100: Passing through Albany, NY on the way to Montreal, October, 2002 |
Dear Friends of New York Central 3,
NYC 3 recently celebrated its 170th charter trip since it resumed operations in 1993, with individual trips ranging from one to 21 days. This was all made possible through the efforts of you, NYC 3's group of loyal supporters. This includes not only clients who have helped pay the bills, and the many volunteers who work on the car, but also the large number of skilled professionals who keep the car's mechanical systems running efficiently, many contributing both skills and work ethics which are very difficult to find in today's world. Thank you all very much for your support.
Recently, we developed a new brochure, which is featured in this web site. I always liked our old brochure, but it was clearly a novice effort and this one seems to be a substantial improvement.
In the late 1990's, I negotiated a tariff with VIA Rail Canada which opened up all of Canada to travel by private railroad cars. Since then, NYC 3 has traveled transcontinentally 3 times and, in 2000, we made the "trip of a lifetime" to Operation Sail and the Tall Ships 2000 extravaganza in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We've also made numerous trips to Quebec City and to Jonquière, which is perhaps the continent's best travel value. However, VIA Rail recently made the unfortunate decision to restrict access to their transcontinental trains and to certain trains serving Eastern Canada. We are working diligently to get these restrictions lifted, but for the moment, trips between Montreal and Quebec City and Halifax and between Vancouver and Toronto are possible only on a limited basis and must be negotiated far in advance.
As most know from local news coverage, the Bush era has been difficult for passenger railroading. To me, it is unthinkable--especially after September 11--that the national passenger train network should be threatened with abandonment, but his personal antipathy towards Amtrak was so well known prior to his second election that, when he was re-elected, we cancelled approximately $20,000 in planned improvements to NYC 3. Our fears were justified when he and his puppet Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta sacked Amtrak's president "for succeeding too well" and came close to shutting down the long-distance trains upon which all private cars depend. But as I write, Mr. Minetta is long gone, George Bush is a weakened lame duck, and Congress appears to have reconsidered--at least for the moment. As a result, we have resumed major improvement projects on NYC 3. However, the Amtrak funding issue has not been resolved for the long term. I urge you to pay attention to the issue, to think about passenger rail each time you suffer the inconvenience and humiliation of an airport visit, and if necessary, write your elected representatives at both the local, state and national level. (If you don't know who to write, the AARP.ORG web site contains some easy references to elected representatives based on state of residence and zip codes: Go to their home page, then click on "Legislation & Elections" and then on "Write to Congress".)
What have we done to NYC 3 recently in terms of general maintenance and improvements? The list is long and includes the following: interior painting, new upholstery in the lounge and crew quarters, new generator, new dishwasher and galley range, several new wheels, replaced the old lightweight brass wall lights in the lounge with magnificent heavy-duty ones (with dimmer switches) that won't "bounce and jiggle" in transit, etc. But by far the two biggest projects were (A) the 10-year, 200,000 mile truck roll-out inspection and subsequent repairs and (B) rebuilding of the siding that leads to our winter storage facility. This was required because the locomotives taking the car from storage on March 31, 2007 derailed 5 times as soon as the car left the warehouse. We were victims of global warming--all previous entries and exits had been with frozen ground. With soft ground and old ties, the rails spread apart, the locomotives fell in, and the siding was condemned. A disaster for NYC 3, but quite entertaining for the folks who live and work in Bethel, CT.
Once again, we thank everybody who contributes to NYC 3's continued success in any way.
Best regards,
Lovett
Lovett Smith
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| Freshly painted, but still without lettering. Car was painted on-site inside a blow-up tent, the first such application for a railroad car. It was environmentally sound, trapped all vapor and dust, and saved an expensive move to a car shop. | Are we replacing wheel sets or is NYC 3 taking off? Location is Cleveland, after a hot box due to improper application of new wheel bearings. The wheel shop still has not made good and has ignored our lawyer's letters. |