Re: How a tourist line stays in business- Location-Location-Location
| December 12, 2016 03:14PM |
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I've been to all the operations named so far in this thread, and the ones way out in the boonies still have draws unto themselves. Strasburg is reasonably near substantial tourist draws to merit a visit. In short, Dad gets to go see the trains because the kids and the wife get to see Amish country and Hershey Park on the same day (or weekend). And yeah, the weather can be bad, but it can also be great. I was there most recently in September 2015 and it was a great day for a train ride, even that late in the season.
White Pass wouldn't even be running if the cruise ship industry hadn't decided to take a chance on the Inside Passage routes in the 80s. I went to Skagway in 2000 and 2015, and the place had changed substantially in those years, as I now realize the cruise industry re-discovering the area hadn't happened too many years before my first trip there and the locals were still try8ing to figure out what would work best, business-wise..
EBT? I went there twice in the 90s but don't recall much along the way there. And how many years has it been since they ran?
Yeah.
In WA state, you have the Mt Rainier Scenic, which is awfully remote. But the draw is that you pretty much have to drive right past (or within sight of) their depot to get to Mt Rainier. That draw brings riders in.
Up I-5, there's the Chehalis Steam Train. It's a nice, "Ride to nowhere" but doesn't have any massive claims to fame. But it's within sight of a major highway, and difficult to miss when they're running. Would that operation still be going (or at least doing as well) if they'd started that at the other end of the old Milwaukee Road lines in the region, say in Raymond WA along the coast? Not bloody likely!
-Lee
Flickr photo set of my On30 layout
White Pass wouldn't even be running if the cruise ship industry hadn't decided to take a chance on the Inside Passage routes in the 80s. I went to Skagway in 2000 and 2015, and the place had changed substantially in those years, as I now realize the cruise industry re-discovering the area hadn't happened too many years before my first trip there and the locals were still try8ing to figure out what would work best, business-wise..
EBT? I went there twice in the 90s but don't recall much along the way there. And how many years has it been since they ran?
Yeah.
In WA state, you have the Mt Rainier Scenic, which is awfully remote. But the draw is that you pretty much have to drive right past (or within sight of) their depot to get to Mt Rainier. That draw brings riders in.
Up I-5, there's the Chehalis Steam Train. It's a nice, "Ride to nowhere" but doesn't have any massive claims to fame. But it's within sight of a major highway, and difficult to miss when they're running. Would that operation still be going (or at least doing as well) if they'd started that at the other end of the old Milwaukee Road lines in the region, say in Raymond WA along the coast? Not bloody likely!
-Lee
Flickr photo set of my On30 layout
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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