The Nevada State Railroad Museum uses immaculately-restored V&T coaches dating from the 1870s in their trains, but they are not daily reguarly-operating trains in daily use. You're more likely to see the Edwards railcar in use there. In 96 when I was at the steam festival there, we rode in the "Julia Bulette" and it was in pristine shape.
But the main example I was going to bring up here is Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. Their equipment, first off, is all ex-Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern. The coaches used in amusement service there are vintage (given later models, with closed vestibules), but not to say they haven't gotten quite the beating. The bathrooms were removed and the seats were replaced with new bus-style seats (or so I was told). You may not be able to pull off a daily amusement park operation with unruly park guests using say the "Julia Bulette" (a true crime!) but it might be a little more possible in a tourist railroad setting. Probably the best bet instead of rounding up everything is replica old-style coaches such as the White Pass and Durango & Silverton have built.
The two C-19s that Knotts runs date to 1881, making them the two oldest locomotives to date in amusement park service. Note, these two locomotives BOTH predate the ex-C&S engines the CHS wants to restore and use that many say are "too old and will get ruined". (believe me I am in no way supporting the CHS...I'm as pro-GLR Inc. and anti-CHS as I should hope everyone on this board is, though I would like to see the #71 or #9 operate again as well as other 19th century steam). Knotts is open year-round, and though steam does not operate daily, the two C-19s run regularly (much of the time, one is being worked on while the other runs). They are in *PRISTINE* shape, folks. In the late 90s, they started really getting active with the railroad. The #41 was given all-black paint and the RGS logo, and the #340 was given a green boiler jacket with black cab and tender. It has worn different era Rio Grande logos. What I'm saying is that, if you have the manpower to do so (and proper indoor storage), you can restore an 1880s-1890s steam locomotive and run it regularly and keep it in better shape than rusting away in a park. Steam locomotives were built to last by the shopmen in Eddystone, Schenectady, Lima, etc. and parts are intended to get replaced to keep them running. Many people have said this, but I second that in "the day" of steam railroading, railroads modified their locomotives to fit their needs (coincidentally, a friend of mine said this as a rebuttal to my comment off the re-stacking, numbering, painting, and conversion to coal of one of my favorite locomotives). But the thing is...these locomotives wouldn't get destroyed and given new high-boilers...balloon stacks for the crowds...etc. They'd be restored to their former glory. And actually, the GLR Inc. is most capable if anybody in this scenario to return one of these locomotives to steam and keep it running and preserved well...I don't know enough about Railstar and the CHS that they could keep a vintage machine like this in pristine shape like Dan Markoff has done with the Eureka, or the NSRM with the "Inyo".
You've got a better chance of running vintage locomotives and keeping them up than vintage cars, since the unruly passengers and little kiddies spilling their tippy-cups don't get anywhere near the locomotives (but they will sit and perhaps ruin your vintage coaches in an hour, heck even 10 minute, ride on the railroad). At the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, there were "no food and drink" signs out. But when twice a week or so on when me and sometimes my fellow volunteer friend would give the coaches a washdown and cleaning with a bucket of Turtle Wax and a sponge, you'd still see soda stains in the wood floors. And there's a lot worse things that can be done than spilling drinks (slitting upholstery on seats with a Swiss Army knife, or etching names into woodwork with a sharp object. I noticed much of this in the first of the rebuilt BJWRR cars, the only one painted green at this time, when it had been in service for about six years).
Well I can't go on forever, and I'm not one to say what gets done (its the RRs business, not mine), this is just some stuff to think about.
Keep Steaming,
Ed Kelley
