Skip,
The Empire Mine is now a state park, however there isn't much of an area that could be useful operations wise since most of it is heavily protected. Our location isn't that bad, its right off the highway, with proper signage. We do get a decient amount of visitor traffic, and donations fund restoration. The power/water/etc is paid for by the City, since we function as a branch of the Historical Society. Our museum is actually the "Transportation" museum but we focus in large part on the railroad.
Our best bet for operation would be possibly the ROW which runs adjacent to the Ramey's property. This is currently a dirt road and the City on day in the future may allow some trackage to be put there if another road was ever built. I'm not holding my breath, but it is a nice thought.
We do however have a decient yard at the museum which allows us to do a little switching and movement on special occasions. For now this suits the group just fine considering we don't have the man power to run a true tourist operation.
-=Andrew=-