Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411180024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The decision might have been handled more sensitively: conferring with city leaders, perhaps; dropping hints that this step was being considered; even proposing a phase-out instead of abruptly announcing the end.
None of this, however, would have made the move less disappointing, or less a blow to Roanoke's plans for promoting tourism by showcasing its railroad heritage.
And, while the cancellation hurts more because the excursions have gone on so long, such traditions really give rise only to the impression, not the fact, of entitlement. Their fate was Norfolk Southern's to decide.
NS had its reasons. Liability could be a problem if there were an accident. With about 40 excursions operating yearly in a number of states, personnel had to be assigned that otherwise could attend to other things.
Perhaps most important, NS wants to avoid delays in freight shipments over the same rails. The company may be trying pre-emptively to discourage efforts to expand such excursions or to restore passenger-train service here using freight-hauling tracks.
The excursions' cancellation ought to be considered, moreover, in the context of the transportation firm's overall and continuing contributions to the community.
Leave aside its $135 million annual payroll in the Roanoke Valley and its employment of about 3,300 residents. The railroad also gives an estimated $1 million yearly to various local charitable causes, including United Way, public radio and TV, Mill Mountain Theatre, the science and art museums, and to other institutions through company "matching gifts" made by its employees. It leases the Virginia Transportation Museum its building for $1 a year. This year, it's giving $500,000 to the Hotel Roanoke project - part of a total commitment of $2 million.
Businesses sometimes have to make hard decisions that go against sentimental attachments - their own and their customers'. The excursions seemed like good public relations. But Norfolk Southern's business judgment can't be based simply on pleasing Roanokers in this or other matters.
All that said, it's hard to believe some of the railroad's concerns couldn't have been dealt with, given popular attachment to the old 611 steam-engine program and its economic value to Roanoke.
Roanokers aren't the only ones for whom railroad history holds a special fascination. Nor does Roanoke hold the franchise on this history. The excursions have been a roaring success throughout Virginia and in other states where they've operated - with tickets to ride usually a sellout, and crowds lining the tracks, straining to hear the salute of the distinctive whistles.
Yet Roanoke has more rail-history buffs per capita than most cities, including some people who helped build the famous steam locomotives in the old Norfolk & Western shops here. The excursions affirmed a large part of their lives and legacy. And you don't have to be an old-timer to appreciate the sights and sounds from a bygone era. For schoolchildren especially, the chance to ride behind a steam locomotive was an adventure as well as an education.
Beyond nostalgia lies the economic fact that this year, for instance, the October Railway Festival, with its featured excursions, drew 50,000 people - boosting receipts for local hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. And rail heritage figures prominently in city plans for future tourism initiatives.
So the question remains: Can anything be worked out? The marvelous 611 steam engine, which the railroad gave to the city in 1959 but which has been used by NS for excursions since 1982, may end up on display at the transportation museum. But the chance to see it there won't appeal to as many visitors as the opportunity to see it in action.
The hope must be that some sort of public-private partnership might still be open to negotiation to keep the trains running - if on an even more limited schedule - for the sake of enthusiasts, young and old, and for the good of the region.
by CNB