Press Release

Romance on the Rails
By DENISE M. CHAMPAGNE
Finger Lakes Times

Instead of looking for love in all the wrong places, single people were invited Saturday to have eight-minute Valentine’s speed dates aboard a Finger Lakes Railway round-trip train from Clifton Springs to Geneva.

But only two single people showed up for the $60 per-ticket two-hour excursion. And, while they had a good time, they did not make a love connection.

When she saw how little interest there was in that aspect of the venture, Events Coordinator Deb Murphy quickly adjusted the programming to include a social chat with three others who were helping host the event: one from the railway and two from Simply Just For The Girls of Canandaigua, which had a separate dating game for couples going on in an adjoining car.

“I figured I’d just come and see what it was,” said Paul Johnson of Hall, who had read about “The Love Train” in a newspaper. “I thought it was interesting.”

He socialized with Marcia Locke of Clifton Springs and the three hosts while sipping Finger Lakes wines.

Locke had speed-dated one other time — last summer at the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, Monroe County.

“It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon,” she said. “It’s a way to meet a variety of people. I just don’t think the word got out.”

Speed dating provides single people with several fast-paced short dates in one outing as an alternative to the bar scene or blind dates. Most gatherings provide score cards in which participants mark down whether they’re interested in meeting a date again. If mutual interest is noted, organizers give each person the other’s phone number to pursue future dates on their own.

Finger Lakes Railway has been sponsoring a variety of scenic passenger trips in recent years and will probably give this idea a go again in the future. Murphy said a speed-dating service will probably be used next time to register participants and group them by age and background.

What met with more success Saturday was the dating game in the next car, reminiscent of the old TV show “The Newlywed Game,” with seven dating couples seeing how well they knew their girlfriend or boyfriend.

“If someone would give you $25,000, what would you go without doing for three months?” Suzanne Wright, fun coordinator of Simply Just For The Girls asked Richard DuVall of Seneca Falls. “A, washing; B, cleaning/brushing your teeth; or C, using deodorant?”

“It better not be teeth,” said his partner, Joni Cooley, also of Seneca Falls.

“She’s a dental assistant,” DuVall explained.

“We’ve been all over flossing,” Cooley agreed just before DuVall correctly answered C, the response Cooley had predicted.

Playing the game was DuVall’s idea, something he’d planned as an early Valentine surprise for Cooley.

“He was dying to tell me,” she said, noting he had told her friends at work. "You couldn’t keep a secret,” she told him. “You had to tell somebody.”

But he did keep it from her, at least, leaving her guessing as they drove around Clifton Springs and came upon the sign for the trip on the edge of John L. Brown Memorial Park.

“I’m like ‘Oh, we’re going on a train ride?’” Cooley said, a bit apprehensive at first, but later saying, “This is the best Valentine’s gift I’ve ever had.”

The train ride seemed to be the major attraction to many, including Debbie Pharr and Jim Anderson, both of Bath, Steuben County. The tickets were given to his daughter who couldn’t make it and knew her train-loving father would probably enjoy the event.

“He’s a big train nut,” Pharr said. “That’s why his daughter knew he’d jump at these tickets. It sounded like a great idea. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it’s been really nice. I didn’t know there was a train out this way. We’ll have to come again.”

Anderson agreed, saying the afternoon was excellent and he would recommend it to anyone.

The game ended in a tie between Joanne and Jamey Black of Gorham and Tim Donovan and Karen Parker of Derby, Erie County, who then engaged in a tie-breaking guessing game to see which couple could come up with a number closest to the one Wright selected.

“Six and nine; 69,” said Donovan.

The correct number was 26 with the prize — an overnight stay at Morgan Samuels Inn in Canandaigua going to the Blacks who had guessed 49. Donovan and Parker received a second-place basket of Finger Lakes wines, glasses and chocolates.

Donovan had heard about the event from Mike Weich of Wilson, Niagara County, a friend and co-worker in Tonawanda. Weich, who was accompanied by his wife Dawn, found out about the event online while searching for Valentine’s Day-related train trips. They’ve been on other tourist rail rides including the Adirondack Scenic Railroad.

“My husband doesn’t plan much, but when he does, it’s really good,” she said.

Finger Lakes Railway Excursion Services offers fundraising opportunities in addition to theater presentations, business outings, school or scouting functions, social activities and recreation.

Murphy was hired in June to arrange events for the railway, which has lines from Canandaigua to Syracuse and Lyons to Watkins Glen.