CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Autumn Colors Express will run again next year from Huntington in Cabell County to Hinton’s Railroad Days in Summers County.
“We are committed to 2020 and beyond,” Lou Capwell with Rail Excursion Management Company told MetroNews on Friday shortly before boarding started for the first on what would be three Autumn Colors Express trips during the last weekend of October.
The Autumn Colors Express is the replacement for the former New River Train.
At 8 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the train was scheduled to leave Huntington for a day trip through the New River Gorge after a stop for pickups in Charleston.
During trips, train tracking was available HERE.
Capwell said Saturday’s trip was sold out, Friday’s trip came close to selling out and, as of Friday, a few spaces were available on the Sunday trip.
“This has been hugely successful, I think, for not only our company, but for the state of West Virginia, for Huntington, for Hinton, for pretty much everybody involved,” Capwell said.
His company, Rail Excursion Management Company, also known as Railexco, was operating the sightseeing train made up of privately-owned vintage cars in cooperation with Amtrak.
“We assembled the train in Chicago and then we bring the train, as a special, all the way from Chicago to Huntington,” explained Capwell.
“So there are former railroads represented and all sorts of different kinds of cars as well.”
Trips followed the same route of the Amtrak Cardinal from Huntington to Hinton via Kanawha Falls, Hawk’s Nest Dam and Thurmond while offering views of the New River Gorge.
For more than 50 years, travelers covered the the same track line on the New River Train.
In February, the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society announced the 2019 runs were canceled because of operating losses for 2018, attributed to higher Amtrak costs and additional restrictions.
It took months to finalize a new deal for the fall train with Railexco.
All aboard the Autumn Colors Express! I’m proud to have helped keep this piece of #WV railroad tradition alive so that visitors from across the country can experience the Railroad Days Festival in Hinton and West Virginia’s beautiful fall foliage 🍂 @acewva pic.twitter.com/wLCPG66Vz6
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 25, 2019
“It’s a 53-year tradition and we are excited to be a part of it and we’re excited to kind of carry that torch into the 21st Century,” Capwell said.
Tickets for the trip, including meal service, were sold in a list of classes including deluxe coach, lounge, private, dome and chairman’s luxury.
Involved in trip planning were the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society out of Indiana and the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation based in Ravenna, Kentucky, two rail preservation groups.
Boarding was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. in Huntington on Oct. 25, 26 and 27 near the historic Chesapeake and Ohio rail station.
The Autumn Colors Express was scheduled to arrive on those days around 9 a.m. in Charleston to pick up passengers, but that arrival time was only an estimate.
An 11:30 a.m. arrival was planned each trip day in Hinton followed by a three-hour layover for the Railroad Days Festival.
Arrivals back in Charleston were set for 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Huntington.
Free shuttles were going to be provided in both cities to transport people to and from parking areas.