Re: Hurt feelings in Silverton

Let me Foreword this post by saying that I am not bashing either the topic starter, NOR Mr. Harper, who has done wonderful things with the D&S RR.

I'm not sure where Mr. Harper is coming from, with that $500 a person per night idea...
I suppose there is a niche of clientele that can afford that. Not sure how much "repeat business" would come from that crowd, though.

I sure as heckfire could not afford it. I didn't spend much more than that for the entire 11 nights on my recent vacation on the D&S and C&TS...and I thought I spent too much.

As for Silverton...I can't imagine (at the late hour I'm reading this) how a $500 per night "Carnival Cruise Liner" type glitzy establishment is gonna fit into that town.

I have stayed at The Grand Imperial each of the three times I stayed in Silverton overnight. I found it to be a wonderfully preserved historic attraction, that fits in perfectly to the "time machine" of riding a steam-powered train with old open-window cars and arriving at the "old west" town.

The Grand Imperial has beautiful rooms -with a historic flavor. Lots of wood. But there's no elevator!
Those $500-a-niters will be shelling out 20's to hire some kid to lug their luggage up the Grand Staircase!

And I would hate to see that change. I have enjoyed each visit there, because it was all part of the adventure. Modernizing it would destroy it, in my humble opinion.

Seems to me, the solution is an all-new ultra-fancy establishment, designed to blend in with the Silverton "theme" (what ever that may be). Trouble is: where would it "fit in".

How about off the tail of the wye-track..? The parlor cars could even be backed right in next to the lobby under a fancy train shed. Not so outlandish an idea...maybe the kind of thing Molly Brown would have built.