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| Re: TM Nostalgia Train - Destinations announced (254337) | |||
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Re: TM Nostalgia Train - Destinations announced |
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Posted by JayZeeBMT on Wed May 17 10:19:27 2006, in response to Re: TM Nostalgia Train - Destinations announced, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed May 17 07:50:41 2006. I will take this up. I get the VERY clear impression that a lot of toes were stepped on, but there's room for blame at the top, not just at the bottom with the foolishness of a few "rotten apples." The MOD trips could have (and should have) been a PR bonanza for the MTA. Like the Christmas trips of a couple years ago, (which Public Affairs wanted, according to Lockley and a couple other crew members) which DID generate goodwill for the railroad, the MOD trips could have gone more smoothly with everybody pulling on the same rope.I rode the MOD trips in 2003, "04, and '05. I witnessed one fool yelling obscenities on the June 28, 2003 trip during the photo stop at B. 98 St., so I'm sure there were other incidents of idiocy I missed. However, that could have been curbed by "negative reinforcement", that is, by the other railfans letting the offender know his/her actions are inappropriate. As for the problems with the MTA board and politicians, that's an issue of PUBLICITY. I know the MOD trips weren't as well publicized as they could have been (I found out about them through BERA mailings). If the Mayor and Governor wanted photo ops (which, IMHO, would have ruined the trips, but still,) they could have shown up. "What if some moron had stepped onto an energized third rail?" Bloomberg could have had THAT issue when he rode the LO-V's into Grand Central during Centennial week... Transit Authority issues abounded with these trips because their management style (and I discussed this at length with a retired superintendent, rest his soul) actively discourages events like fan trips. Who's turf are you crossing, what division and line is the excursion messing up (on the 6/28/03 trip, I clearly heard the tower at one point, ASK the T/O of the excursion train "where are you going?)...all this could have been settled with courtesy, instead of everybody working at cross-purposes. As for "You used OUR lifts, OUR cranes and parked it WHERE?", well museum cars or not, these are NYC subway cars in the NYC subway system. It makes sense that they'd be maintained in NYC facilities (IIRC, the labor that went into their restoration was donated, I would hope the MTA would be gracoius enough to donate the maintenance space as well.) I'm not a transit employee, but just someone with an appreciation for all that Bill Wall and his people did. They brought back living history for railfans and others to enjoy. Even the revenue trips were educational, after all, a LOT of New Yorkers were born after these cars were retired. Even accounting for the tomfoolery that sometimes accompanies these trips, they are a valuable, informative glimpse into the days of New York past, and their educational worth alone is enough, in my mind, to justify keeping them running... |
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