Adventures Abound with Train Ride to New Hope

A couple of mishaps could have stopped the Historic Train Ride to New Hope on dead in its tracks.

First, at the last minute, a diesel engine train had to be subsittuted for the advertised steam engine one.

Second, it was raining.

"By the time we rattled and bumped our way to New Hope, the sun was out, and it was a perfect day," Dick Sayer, Willow Grove 300 steering committee chairman, said in an email.

The train-ride event, which is a part of the , reconnected participants with origins of a phrase familiar to Willow Grove residents, "the hub of the suburbs."

The two-hour ride brought a full load of passengers, 297 people in all, back and forth to New Hope from Willow Grove Station, riding the Warminster line.

"A lot of credit goes to the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad for operting the train without incident, and to SEPTA for coordinating the details that allowed the historic train to travel over their rail system," Sayer said, adding, "Not once, but four times."

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For a full list of events, visit www.willowgrove300.com.