The sound of a train whistle filled the air on Thursday and Friday in Wellsville
From Staff Reports, video by Jim Mickle
Such a beautiful reminder of the hard work that is done in Hornell, NY to make these trains. I wish I could have seen it in Wellsville but I did see people lined up along the road in Andover at the overpass waiting for the opportunity to take photos.
Fun info if you are interested: Each Train set consists of 11 cars. There is a Power Car on each end of the train set that includes motors and traction built at Alstom’s components center in Hornell (Plant 2, near Walmart). The power cars allow the trains to be pulled in either direction. Those components are shipped to Plant 1 where the trains are built and tested. There is 9 passenger vehicles in each train set. The car body shell is built at a Alstom facility in Italy and shipped by ocean to Silk Road in Arkport for storage.
Here is the video:
The first passenger vehicle you see in the train has a red door- this is the first class car. The second car consists of a catering area to service the first class car and some seating. Cars 3,4,5,7,8,9 are standard seating cars. All of these passenger cars include a ADA compliant bathroom. The sixth car in the train set is the “catering/bar” car which includes tables, a kitchen, and a counter to order food and beverages.
Will Wellsville see the return on the passenger train? According to Jim Mickle, a lifelong train lover, our local train tracks do not support these style of locomotives.
