Russo Loco Wrote:
> But
TRAINS reaches a wide audience, and
> will hopefully attract some new fans to America's
> longest, highest, most scenic and most historic
> steam railroad. IIRC, adding up the maximum
> capacities of all three charters still totals well
> under 300 people. Also, late August is
> usually a relatively quiet time on the C&TS, as
> families have gone home for the start of the
> school year and most older daisy pickers are
> waiting for cooler weather to begin their fall
> travels. There's still plenty of time for
> all three events to attract riders; hopefully it
> will all turn out well.
>
> -
Roosso
Hi Russ,
The biggest concern is always that the market for high-end charters is a small one. As I indicated on a previous thread last week, the number of folks who are willing to pay $500 or more for a photo charter is probably not more than 200-300 in the whole country. As Michael Allen chimed in, the number who are willing to do that more than once a year is probably measured in a few dozen at most. The issues go beyond the cost of the train. There is the cost of travel and living, which can easily exceed the cost of the train trip (at least in my case) and there's the further issue of vacation time. I'd like to do them all.....but at some point, my boss might tell me to just stay on vacation and not come back! I suspect that I'm not the only one.
So yes, it is possible to have too many charters being offered, and for those trips to start contending with each other for the limited clientele that they are targeting.
$649 is a pretty good price for a 2-day, 2-engine train on the C&TS. 80 is a big crowd, but fortunately, there are a lot of spots on this line that can accommodate a group that large.....you're just not going to get Rock Tunnel or Phantom.....at least not without 3-4 run-bys at each.
/Kevin Madore