RE: (erielack) odd, but Special Request.

["Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paultup_@_lucent.com>]

MO Joe wrote:

> As you may or may not already know, I am recently engaged to 
> a wonderful
> woman. We've been talking about how we are going to get 
> married, and it
> was decided early on that we needed something "different" 
> then everyone
> else. (I.E. No churches, horse drawn chariots, and the ill-fated rice
> ideas)

Congrats! Marriage is great - spoken by a person who just celebrated his 1 year anniversary :)


 
> The idea is to get MARRIED right in the waiting room of Hoboken
> Terminal. Then proceed to our track were a "special train" would be
> waiting for us to wisk us away to Belmar, on the North Jersey Coast
> Lines.

It will take a bit of arm-twisting to use the waiting room for this - maybe a portion? But I'd start asking NJT now to see if they're even willing to do this.



> This "train" would be powered with those wonderful Lackawanna E-8's. 

Unfortunately, this isn't the case where "all it takes is money" (though that will help). There will be some political hoops to jump through - renting the engines, getting them down to Hoboken somehow, paying for fuel, crew, returning the locomotives, etc. It will be difficult (not impossible, but very difficult)



> Would like for the Lackawanna Dining car to be present. (Good for the
> munchies)

The ELDCPS diner is in no condition to be used for an excursion, I'm afraid (not yet at least!)



> Would be WONDERFUL if one of those Phoebe Tail Cars were available..
> (Are there any?)

Metro-North has both of them. Here's another political issue: Will they allow you to rent them? And how to get them across the river?


> I know this sounds totally insane (wacked, numbskulled, etc) but the
> idea sounds really interesting, would deffinately get good 
> publicity for
> all those involved, and would give railfans a treat to something they
> normally wouldn't see.

The question, however, is: Do all these transit agencies want this kind of attention? It could potentially spawn off requests from others wanting to do the same thing. Again, it's politics at work.

 
> But we sat down and figured it out, on average, people nowadays spend
> upwards of 10,000 dollars for a wedding. (in some cases maybe more if
> you rent a hall, have a reception, etc.)

Not in New Jersey! :)  It's at least $20K+ for an "average" wedding.

I think you'll be spending much more than that to fulfill your dream stated above...



 
> Like I stated earlier, we want something "different" and there is no
> doubt that this is "different"...
> 
> What you think guys?

I think it would be a great idea, but nearly impossible to do. How's this for an alternative?

* Work with the Morristown & Erie to run a train for you over one of their lines (possibly over NJT trackage rights?) - and hey, they have "Erie" in their name :)
* Use one of their Alco diesels (nice)
* They have access to a nice fleet of private cars, too

Here's their charter page - this is really your best bet: http://www.merail.com/CharterServices/Main1.htm


Best of luck!

	- Paul

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