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The American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners will be holding their annual convention in Pueblo, CO on September 20-22.
Amtrak will operate their train for a fee as it does each year. They will assemble at Albuquerque and will depart September 17 over the Raton Line to Trinidad, CO. Then with a BNSF pilot they will use the BNSF line to Walsenburg, CO.
SL&RG RR crews and two locomotives will then take the train, in two sections, over La Veta Pass to Alamosa. They will then come back to Walsenburg where BNSF and Amtrak will take them to Pueblo where they will be parked during the convention.
On Thursday, Sept. 23 Amtrak and BNSF will operate the train to La Junta, Las Animas Jct., and through Boise City, OK to Amarillo, TX where they will overnight in the BNSF yard.
On Fridat, Sept. 24 Amtrak and BNSF will operate this train through Clovis, Belen and then to Albuquerque where the train will be diassembled and the various private cars will return via Amtrak to their home destinations.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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Envy! Envy! Envy! What beautiful scenery La Veta Pass must be this time of year.
notelvis Member # 3071
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La Veta Pass, I think, is the best kept secret mountain crossing on any US railroad. It is particularly spectacular climbing westbound behind a steam locomotive.
Thanks to the Rio Grande Scenic..... an operation by people who like trains and who like people who like trains..... I've been fortunate to make a couple of round trips over La Veta Pass..... most recently just a couple of months.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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I rode the AAPRCO special behind the 3751 to Sandy Eggo in 2008, and got to walk through and check out all of the private cars. It was very interesting. Some cars were absolutely beautiful and clean, modern, and fancy. Others were in need of a lot of TLC and upgrades. I guess you could call it a "cornucopia" of PV's! The only drawback is that if you are not an AAPRCO member, they force you to join and pay for a full year membership. But that "full year" only lasts until December 31st, so about 6 weeks after joining and paying full dues, you get a renewal notice! When I got mine, I threw it in the trash. There were lots of complaints on that ridiculous policy.
RRCHINA Member # 1514
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smitty195
AAPRCO has their convention(and train) for their members. It is not a 'fan trip' operation thus their policy of requiring membership.
There are other benefits of an Associate membership that while not of value to all rail fans they are deemed to be worthwhile by many. They have over 400 continuing Associate members.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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RRCHINA,
Yup, I understand that the convention is THEIR convention, and not a railfan convention. However, the requirement to pay a full year's subscription fee to AAPRCO that was only good for approximately 3 months, whereby you then receive a notice to give them ANOTHER full year's dues after you just paid them----is a ripoff.
Of course I can't name names as it would not be appropriate, but I can assure you that there are car owners who protested within AAPRCO about this practice, but it fell upon deaf ears. Of all of the "signups" they had, 100% of us did not renew. If they were looking for new memberships, as the saying goes, "That's no way to run a railroad".
PS: If it weren't for railfans paying to join AAPRCO and ride the special train every year, they would have a very poor turnout at their meetings. Almost nobody would be there, thus, they rely on railfans for their annual membership meetings to be a success.
RRCHINA Member # 1514
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smitty195
I will be attending the 2010 convention in Pueblo, Co and will make an unofficial inquiry about attendance, at the meetings as well as on the train.
They always have 20+ private cars attending and many sustaining Associate members will attend because it is 'their thing'. If the itinerary is not exotic, like Sandy Eggo along the surf line, not mnany such as yourself will choose to participate. But AAPRCO will still have their convention and train trip W/O those who are just railfans.
They seem to always have good participation but obviously cannot please every point of view.
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