Finger Lakes Railway looks at Seneca Lake route

FINGER LAKES--While still in the early preliminary stages of planning, Finger Lakes Railway, based in Geneva, is exploring options to run a regular tourist train from Himrod to Watkins Glen. The company has already purchased a 1954 Trinity Railway Express car and will be painting it to add to their fleet of Pullman cars. Short runs from Geneva to Auburn and Geneva to Solvay (west of Syracuse) are expected to start in April.
Similarly, an already purchased self-propelled BUDD car will allow other equipment to be freed up making the tourism aspect of the business more viable.
"We would like to have a regular tourist train that would be scheduled out of Watkins Glen," said Deb Fox, manager of passenger services and special projects for Finger Lakes Railway.
Before that is possible however, there are required track improvements that need to be done.
"It's something we have on our list to do... but as to the track improvements, that is something I can't even give a timeline on right now," said Fox.
Primarily a freight car business, the Finger Lakes Railway Corporation is a short-line railroad that owns and operates 167 miles of track from its headquarters. Their fleet includes 19 locomotives and they lease over 500 railcars to support their customer needs.
Having locations where two trains can pass by one another along with boarding access for visitors are some of the challenges of the Seneca Lake route. However, the vistas along the lakeside make it an attractive project for development.
"We hope to expand what that looks like when you get there, a more welcoming greeting area for passengers," said Fox.
While the Watkins line might be years in the making, the new car has already been in use.
"What we used to do, is that non-profits would rent a train and do their own events and marketing with their own tickets and that is what sustained our passenger department for a lot of years," Fox explained.
Going forward, Fox hopes the passenger rail aspect becomes more centralized and streamlined.
"I have a vision that the car would do an unbelievable amount of business on the Watkins Glen waterfront," added Fox.
To aid with that vision, Fox said she has already been in contact with Judy McKinney Cherry, executive director for the Schuyler County Partnership for Economic Development.
"With a rail and sail package along with everything being so walkable down at the base of the village and lake, this could be very successful," said Fox. "One of our most gorgeous parts of our railroad is there and it doesn't make sense to me to not try to develop that more for the tourism aspect."