My girlfriend had an idea.......

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Chris142

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She comes up with a lot of interesting ideas.

Here goes.

There is a Train/Desert museum in Kelso,Ca. Way out in the boonies.

http://www.desertusa.com/mnp/mnp_kelso2.html

The place was packed yesterday! I was suprized to find that many people hanging out in the middle of nowhere. There was standing room only and the lunch counter was packed.

My favorite place to visit is Nipton,Ca.

http://www.nipton.com/

I've never found better food than the little Cafe here has. I've been known to drive 300 miles round trip just to eat and hang out there.

Theres a hotel and a few permanent tents if somebody wanted to stay the night here.

http://www.nipton.com/hotelnipton.html

Girlfriend thinks that having an old steam train that ran between these 2 towns would be a great idea. Convincing investors of this may be a different story.

Looks to be about 35 miles 1 way.

Lets say that she did get investors to help with the idea.

Would anybody be interested in riding the old steam train between the 2 places?
 
Wouldn't there be some kind of tax because the steam train isn't efficient? I mean you're killing the earth with all that coal smoke, right? California wants its dollars for that sort of reckless behavior. Rather than think this is a bad thing, you could capitalise on it and offer something available no where else on earth.

Now, if you had a an old, original steam train that was retrofitted to run on biofuel... With the right billing you'd really make a killing on the hipsters, eco-nuts, and yuppies. It would pair well with the tent-motel place. You could call it some kind of eco-getaway vacation package. They'd eat it up. Heck, you could probably get a grant from the government to help offset the costs.
 
I'm in, I love trains, especially old ones
smile.gif
 
Most restored steam engines have been converted to burn oil-less work than coal. Sounds like a good idea, if I ever make it out there I would definitely check it out!
 
Chris142 - let me 1st say that I love your posts! You share interesting trucks and places...loved the Gold Mine thread! But - to answer your question - YES! That is a great idea! I have seen many "mini train rides" be successful. Just about every theme park has a train and here in TExas there are train rides going places. There's even one in the downtown Fort Worth Stockyards that takes you for a distance them brings you back. Even when I lived in MD, there were several old steam train rides..they even had longer rides that were "mystery murder" rides and served dinner and all.

Great idea!
 
The murder mystery idea is a good one; you can also license "The Polar Express" from Disney. But it's expensive; I took my kids on one once for 45 minutes for $21; for another dollar I could bring them all down to Boston on the Amtrak Downeaster.

There's another one that goes through foliage in the fall. A gimmick train would work better in a four-season climate... is that what you get on the high desert?

Usually retired volunteers run the trains in full period costume.
 
This place is about 15 minutes from my place. Drove past it on Saturday, and there was literally 100s of cars there.

http://www.zigzagrailway.com.au/

They started as a couple of enthusiasts working weekends rebuilding trains and tracks. Now have permanent employees, and apprentices.

Run about 3-4 coal fired steamers (I spent a day shovelling ages back), a couple of diesel railmotors for weekdays. They've got heaps of rolling stock (including an oil fired Garret) that they are working through refurbishing.

During school holidays they do "Thomas the Tank Engine" days, Harry Potter days. Sometimes have a dinner/murder thing.

This is another one on the outskirts of town that's not so popular with the locals because it comes into town and soils their washing.

http://www.statemine.org.au/portal.htm
 
Six Flags has been running their narrow gauge steam engine built in 1901 every year since 1961.

They have two but only run the smaller one (built in the 1800s)on busy days.

They were rebuilt and converted to fuel oil some time ago.

The Tarantula train I mentioned AFAIK, is the only one. It has some down time in January but should be up and running by the Super Bowl.

They might need some down time, just schedule it for off season.
 
The Hill Country Flyer in the Austin, Tx area was a continuously running steam train until about ten years ago, when it was taken out of service for rebuilding. I have ridden it, and it was an interesting, worthwhile experience. I hope they get it completed soon.

The front page of the web site shows the diesel they are currently running, but details of the steam engine rebuild are there also. If you have any interest on how a steam engine is constructed, it is worth a look.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Girlfriend thinks that having an old steam train that ran between these 2 towns would be a great idea. Convincing investors of this may be a different story.

Looks to be about 35 miles 1 way.


I'm a bit of a railfan myself, but having worked in the railroad industry for a while, I heard the going rate to lay new track was on the order of about $3,000,000... PER MILE!
shocked.gif


Granted, this was for AAR Class 1 high speed rail but I doubt you'll be able to lay 'recreational track' for much less than a quarter of that. Good idea, though. Keep her around!
 
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