Published: November 03, 2009 12:01 am      

‘Bad coal’ generates hard feelings

Riders consider scenic railroad trip a tourist’s nightmare

CUMBERLAND — Crofton resident Mindy McConville said she will probably never ride the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad again and the same is likely true of her extended family who traveled from various parts of Maryland on Sunday and experienced what she describes as a tourist’s nightmare.

“I don’t think that anyone who was on that trip would ever return to the train,” McConville said Monday by phone.

The scheduled trip had a standard 11:30 a.m. departure from Cumberland with a 90-minute stopover in Frostburg and return to the Queen City at 3 p.m.

McConville was joined by her husband and their 21-month-old son. Also along were her in-laws from Upper Marlboro and her brother-in-law and family from Mechanicsville.

“Shortly after boarding the train we were stopped for an extensive period because, as we were told by the narrator, the train had bad coal. A few minutes later we were stopped again for bad coal,” McConville wrote in an e-mail.

At about 3 p.m., the train was finally approaching Frostburg, but the riders were told that the train was slipping on wet leaves, she said, and that once more bad coal was causing a problem.

McConville said many of the passengers chose to walk the remaining quarter-mile to the Frostburg Depot, but that was not an option for her disabled father-in-law, who was celebrating his 71st birthday with the train ride. So the family stayed aboard. McConville said requests by the passengers who remained on the train for complimentary refreshments were denied.

“We waited another hour for a diesel to come from Cumberland and push us to the Frostburg station. Everybody was told to get off the train and that it would start back to Cumberland in just 22 minutes.”

Andrea De Palatis, board of directors president for FrostburgFirst/Main Street and owner of Spectrum Design Services, said Monday she wondered why she didn’t see anybody uptown at 2 p.m. Sunday.

“I open on Sunday just for the train (riders) who come up to Main Street,” De Palatis said. “If it was bad coal that slowed the train down, then this is the second time it has happened recently.”

McConville said that the train returned to Cumberland about 5:20 p.m.

“There was nobody there to greet us and explain the situation. There was no offer of a refund or a voucher for another ride. There was no apology,” she said.

Adult tickets range from $30 to $55, according to the railroad’s Web site.

The families got in their vehicles and returned to Crofton, Upper Marlboro and Mechanicsville.

Frank Fowler, the scenic railroad’s general superintendent, said this is the first such delay in the three years he has been with the train.

“It was a combination of things,” Fowler said. “Because of bad coal there was difficulty keeping the steam pressure up and we had brand new people (in the train’s crew) who are in a learning process.”

Wet leaves were not part of the problem, according to Fowler.

Fowler said that when the train makes a complete trip, such as was the case Sunday, no refunds or vouchers are given. “We guarantee the trip, not the time,” he said.

“It was highly unusual for this to happen. We are going back to review what happened during the operation. Our goal when we have a delay is to minimize it,” Fowler said.

Sunday’s train carried 327 passengers in seven cars.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.