RoadsideOnline

RICHMOND – Amtrak Virginia today launches a new train with daily round-trip service between Richmond and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, providing hourly morning northbound departures and more flexible southbound return trips to and from Amtrak's Staples Mill Station.

Virginia stops along the route include Staples Mill, Ashland, Fredericksburg, Quantico, Woodbridge and Alexandria stations, with direct service as far north as Boston.

"This new train provides more transportation choices in the I-95 corridor," said Thelma Drake, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT). "It's easier than ever to take the train for your business, college and vacation trips."

We republish this bit of commentary from 2007 in light of the latest developments surrounding the Vale-Rio Diner in Phoenixville. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today, owner Frances Puleo, the guy that removed the diner from its long-time location has posted the diner on Ebay for a cool quarter mil. 

PHOENIXVILLE, PA -- It's official: owner Francis Puleo wants to replace his landmark Vale-Rio Diner with a Walgreens and a Starbucks. Puleo, who owns the diner, the business, and the property, assured Roadside that he will move the historic diner to a new location within the borough. He alerted us last month to his plans, and this past week, he and his developer did indeed file plans for the new development. "You just can't make enough money in the diner business these days," he told us.

We note here that Puleo didn't say he was not making any money from the diner, just not enough. He also assured Roadside that his real estate company had a parcel available for the new location. We can't help but wonder if he couldn't make enough money in Vale-Rio's current prime location, how will he make enough money in a less desirable spot? We ask this knowing that it often takes a half-million dollars, or more, to move and set up a diner of this size. There's something funny floating in this cup of coffee.

Just to place this news in perspective, residents of Phoenixville tell us that they already have two drugstores along that stretch of Route 23 within a half-mile of his location. See for yourself: Click here.

But as we've seen in the past ten years, such quibbles matter little to the pharmacy juggernauts or the developers that cater to them. The Vale-Rio Diner is one of only four remaining Paramount diners with the burnished circle pattern in its stainless skin. In our general observations of this business over the past two decades, any closing and removal of a diner to storage immediately endangers it. We don't like the odds of this one ever reopening. .

At Mr. Gutman's talk, the Chamber handed out these sheets that encouraged you to "Build your own Skee's Diner." In about five years, this may be all we have left of it. Click on the image to see a full size version. 

The Waterbury Republican-American recently reported that the project to move Skee's Diner, renovate it, and reopen it as a welcome center just increased in price to an even $400,000, up from $375,000. I could hear the collective groans of the unemployed of northwestern Connecticut from here.

I stopped at the 90-year-old diner last year to check on its general condition. Just driving through the area, I had wondered how eight years of disuse and controversy had treated the old girl. Not long afterward, someone involved with the project to move and restore the diner contacted me in response to the article inspired by that visit, where I laid out my five-year prediction for Skee's ultimate demise.

Eventually, this person asked me to speak at a planned gathering and perhaps give a little pep talk about the diner's prospects and possibly sway some of the thinking behind the plans. Scheduling conflicts forced me to cancel, and Richard Gutman took my place. From the reports that I received after his visit, it looks like I made the right decision — at Mr. Gutman's expense.