By Justin Franz 

NEW YORK CITY — In response to a shocking amount of public interest, the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey will run two more weekends of its Hudson River Rail Excursions between New York City and Albany-Rensselaer this fall. 

On August 20, the tickets for the first two weekends of excursions sold out in just 60 seconds. The trips will run through the Hudson River Valley feature New York Central tavern-lounge 43 and observation-sleeper-lounge car Hickory Creek on the rear of a regular Amtrak train. The excursions will revive the experience of the New York Central’s legendary 20th Century Limited. 

The new dates are September 25 and 26 and October 30 and 31. Tickets will go on sale at 8 a.m. on September 6 at HudsonRiverRail.com. 

“We are absolutely humbled by the massive interest in our event,” said URHS President Kevin Phalon. “Our waiting list is currently hundreds of people long. We couldn’t help but add additional dates.”

The excursion will depart New York City at 11:20 a.m. on train 233 each day it runs and arrive in Albany-Rensselaer at 1:50 p.m. After a layover, the excursion will depart Albany at 4:30 p.m. on train 244 and return to New York City at 7:05 p.m.

Hickory Creek was built in 1948 and was acquired by URHS in 1991. The car is Amtrak-certified and is available for private charters. Tavern-lounge 43 was built in 1947 by the Budd Company. It was also acquired by the URHS in 1991 and has been restored to its historic appearance.