Northampton, Mass. | February 25, 2023
Contents
Our annual appeal for donations
Our annual appeal for donations
Trains In The Valley has been advocating for improved and expanded rail service in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts since 2016.
Over the past seven years, our collective efforts have yielded significant accomplishments. Nevertheless, there is more work to be done to achieve further progress.
As we approach the end of the year, we turn to you, our supporters, to seek your assistance to sustain our advocacy work.
We kindly ask for your support through a modest donation.
Your support and input have helped us positively influence these regional developments:
East-West Rail — Now being planned for two corridors: (1) Boston – Springfield – New Haven CT, and (2) Boston – Springfield – Pittsfield – Albany NY.
The Vermonter — We continue to push for better on-time train performance, and an extension of the service to Montreal Central Station in Quebec.
The Valley Flyer — We are striving to help secure an early evening arrival of one of the northbound trains, and promote further integration with the Hartford Line — in particular an improved fare structure for travel between station pairs between Greenfield, Northampton, and Holyoke, and stations south to New Haven.
Transparency of Information — We publish and distribute schedule information to make passenger train travel easier for people. We also distill and share information about policy changes and other activities that affect passenger rail service in our region.
We want you to know that we don’t work alone. We do what we do with the help of interested local, state and federal elected officials and their staff, as well as regional planners, citizen advocates, members of the public, and others.
Working together we will make more good things happen!
Your contribution today will help us to
- Continue to maintain our website, trainsinthevalley.org. This includes the ongoing cost to host the website as well as the software we use to manage and edit the content we publish.
- Continue to produce printed materials that promote the use of passenger rail in our region— as example, the Valley Flyer/Vermonter timetable that’s available at stations in our region.
- Expand the social media advertising that we use to increase awareness of passenger rail services in our region, and also the work of Trains In The Valley.
- Support the modest but regular administrative costs associated with our vollunteer efforts to improve and expand passenger rail service in the Pioneer Valley.
How to donate
The easiest way to donate is to click one of the links below and make your donation by credit card or PayPal.
For ease, we offer you these suggested one-time donations levels:
To donate a dollar amount not shown above, please select one of these options:
If you wish to make a donation by check, please download and print the form below and send the form and your check to us by US mail.
Printable Donation Form (PDF)
Important Note
Trains In The Valley is a registered public charity in the state of Massachusetts.
However, it is not currently a tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) so we are unable at accept tax deductible donations at this time.
One of our objectives for 2024 is to convert the organization into a non-profit entity. As soon as this has been done, later in the year, we will be able to accept tax deductible donations.
In the meantime we hope that you will still consider making a donation.
Further information
More information about Trains In The Valley, including our annual financial reports, can be found on these website pages:
A footnote about the image
The image above shows the northbound Vermonter (Amtrak train 54) departing Northampton on a snowy day in February 2023 with a pair of privately-owned rail cars on the rear of the train.
The trailing car — which is known by the name Babbling Brook — was built in 1949 by the Edward G. Budd Company of Philadelphia.
According to the rail car owner’s website (linked below), the Babbling Brook was one of a group of four identical cars built for a train called the New England States which, at one time, was New York Central Railroad’s premier train between Boston and Chicago.
More information plus pictures of the interior of the car can be found on this link:
Babbling Brook | Webb Rail
Page last updated: December 22, 2023
Page last reviewed: December 16, 2023