Due to an over-whelming demand for pre-sale tickets for TrainFestival 2009, an extra date has been added. Thursday, July 23, 2009 will kick off America’s Largest Celebration of Railroading. An additional All-Day Steam excursion behind the World Famous “Daylight” steam locomotive no. 4449 will operate from TrainFestival 2009 in Owosso, Mi to Alma and return on thursday. First class seating is available as well. Seating is limited for each All-Day steam trip and is expected to sell out soon.

First class tickets were released last week for the All-Day excursions and sold out with in hours of their release to the public. If you or some you know is planning on riding one of these trains we would suggest early purchase. This will be the last additional day that is added to the event. No additional train rides will be scheduled.

You can purchase tickets by visiting http://www.trainfestival2009.com



ONGOING COLLABORATION ENSURES OWOSSO WILL BE READY FOR TRAIN FESTIVAL MASSES

OWOSSO, MI – It’s been full steam ahead for collaboration efforts between the City of Owosso, the Steam Railroad Institute, the Shiawassee Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Shiawassee Convention & Visitor’s Bureau regarding the SRI’s Train Festival this July 23-26.

“We’ve been working with the city for awhile now on how to handle the thousands of visitors we’re expecting to see from out of town and out of state,” said SRI Executive Director TJ Gaffney. “We’ve gotten to the point where I think things are really under control and our guests are going to have a great experience in Owosso.”

Those involved in the Train Festival planning have been discussing issues such as entrances into the city, promoting local businesses and how to best circulate visitors around town.

“Parking is probably the biggest issue we’re working on now,” said Owosso City Manager Joe Fivas. “We want it to be convenient for our visitors and also close enough to all the fun things going on around town that they are encouraged to stay and enjoy Owosso before going home.”

The SRI is now looking for local volunteers who can help the city prepare for and host Train Festival visitors. Anyone interested in volunteering, either for pre-event site preparation or to help direct traffic and welcome festival-goers during the event taking place July 23-26 is encouraged to contact TJ Gaffney at SRI by calling 989-725-9464.

[quote="]“Parking is probably the biggest issue we’re working on now,” said Owosso City Manager Joe Fivas. “We want it to be convenient for our visitors and also close enough to all the fun things going on around town that they are encouraged to stay and enjoy Owosso before going home.” [/quote]

Yeah, parking is a real tough problem at any sort of railway themed event. How do you get the people to and from it? As amazing as rail technology is, that's the one problem it just cannot address...

Yeah, and there isn't a whole lot there around Owosso either (at least, I didn't see much nearby).

Another thing - might want to update the <title> on the website - it still says July 24-26.

Honestly though, I figured this was probably an April Fools story until I checked the site. :)

*EDIT* In regards to "not much there", I mean parking. Just thought I'd better clarify that. :)

This is a great opportunity to demonstrate how well steam locomotives can function in commuter service, by bringing people into Owosso for the Festival.

PC