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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:12 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am
Posts: 2499
wilkinsd wrote:
robertjohndavis wrote:
read that correctly, bullish not bull*#!%)


Thanks for the clarification. With you, sometimes it's hard to tell.



Nice.


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:19 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:55 pm
Posts: 982
Location: Warren, PA
Well, in contrast to some of the news coverage I've seen over the years, I'm not being criminally misquoted here, so I'll let it stand.

I will add that there's no such thing as a firm number here because it's all about the marketing and effectiveness - everybody knows that two operators on the same railroad will never produce the exact same results. But what does need to be said and I'll agree with myself is the concept of supporting the railroad by drawing strictly off of the beach market is not large enough to support a for-profit operator. There has to be more, and there could be.

The other thing I'll emphasize is that unlike many places pursuing similar concepts, this railroad is owned by the shortline. While the local government(s) can be of great assistance, in the end, the railroad is still owned by Maryland and Delaware, and that will be a business decision between them and any potential operator on how this can actually work as a viable enterprise for both.

This phase stopped short at the market study - in order to determine economic impact and jobs, the capital rehab costs, visitor impacts, and operating budget have to be estimated to feed the calculations. Very few governments are willing to participate in anything without that impact analysis. That's the next phase here, and it's rather likely that the County and railroad will wish to develop an RFQ.


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:27 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
From Bayside Gazette, December 4, 2015:

Quote:
When we started this, I was warned this is a long-term process to consider all the factors and what’s involved,” [Worcester County Economic Development Director Bill] Badger said. “We had to make sure there was a market opportunity here and that you can’t forget that someone has to take a risk and make money doing this. No one is going to do it just because it’s a great idea, so that’s what phase one validated, that there is an opportunity to operate an excursion train here.

“Now the harder questions come: the business plan, what’s the economic impact, jobs, capital investment,” Badger continued. “I’m optimistic. I was told a bad Polar Express event can draw 18,000-20,000 people, so if you do it well, I think Strasburg has a record of 64,000 people that did a Polar Express event. There is opportunity here, no question.”


Link to full story in Flimsies.

Wesley


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:31 pm 

Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 10:30 pm
Posts: 981
Location: Bucks County, PA
wesp wrote:
From Bayside Gazette, December 4, 2015:

Quote:
When we started this, I was warned this is a long-term process to consider all the factors and what’s involved,” [Worcester County Economic Development Director Bill] Badger said. “We had to make sure there was a market opportunity here and that you can’t forget that someone has to take a risk and make money doing this. No one is going to do it just because it’s a great idea, so that’s what phase one validated, that there is an opportunity to operate an excursion train here.

“Now the harder questions come: the business plan, what’s the economic impact, jobs, capital investment,” Badger continued. “I’m optimistic. I was told a bad Polar Express event can draw 18,000-20,000 people, so if you do it well, I think Strasburg has a record of 64,000 people that did a Polar Express event. There is opportunity here, no question.”


Link to full story in Flimsies.

Wesley


I'm in the Flimsies right now and don't see the link...

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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:33 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
Just posted at 3:33 pm EST. May take a while to update.

Wesley


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:34 am 

Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:08 pm
Posts: 396
Location: Amherst, OH
wesp wrote:
“I was told a bad Polar Express event can draw 18,000-20,000 people


20k for a bad event? That seems extremely high, no? I'd bet many smaller tourist lines don't draw 20k a year.


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:21 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2874
Emmo213 wrote:
wesp wrote:
“I was told a bad Polar Express event can draw 18,000-20,000 people


20k for a bad event? That seems extremely high, no? I'd bet many smaller tourist lines don't draw 20k a year.


Yes, it does. The logistics of hauling that many people is mind boggling. Even over a 3 or 4 weekend spread, that's 5,000 per weekend. 2,500 per day. If you train hauls 250 passengers, that's 10 trains a day. You also have the issues of parking and staging the guests and on board services, and... and... Yikes!


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 Post subject: Worcester County Approves Phase II Study
PostPosted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 9:19 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
From Bayside Gazette January 29:

(Jan. 29, 2015) The Worcester County Commissioners also discussed the following issues during the Jan. 20 meeting. Excursion train The commissioners approved funding for the Phase II study of the excursion train proposed to connect Berlin and Snow Hill. This study will offer a detailed business plan and an economic impact analysis that includes financial information on infrastructure. Stone Consulting, which performed the Phase I study, will also complete the next-phase study at a cost of about $20,000. Berlin will contribute $5,000, the Maryland Delaware Railroad will pay $5,000, Snow Hill will contribute $3,000 and the Worcester County Economic Development department will pay the balance of $7,317. No date was given for the study’s delivery.

Congrats to Stone Consulting, Maryland-Delaware and Strasburg.

Wesley


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 2:38 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 10:08 am
Posts: 58
Location: Centreville, MD
Any news on this? Was near Berlin over the weekend, and this topic popped into mind.

thanks,
Joe


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 2:43 pm 

Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 10:30 pm
Posts: 981
Location: Bucks County, PA
joecomer wrote:
Any news on this? Was near Berlin over the weekend, and this topic popped into mind.

thanks,
Joe


Just did a Google search and came up with this:

http://mdcoastdispatch.com/2016/05/19/l ... e-forward/

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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 2:50 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
They are currently storing tank cars on the section between Berlin, MD and Selbyville, DE.

Wesley


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 4:28 pm 

Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 7:28 pm
Posts: 545
Location: Northern WV
Selbyville, Berlin Junction & Snow Hill excursion in 1985


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:00 am 

Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 10:30 pm
Posts: 981
Location: Bucks County, PA
Well, it's been a long while since anything has happened on this front that I'm aware of - the last article I see is the one I'm offering a link to below, from December 2016. Has there been any updates/progress since then - that others on here might know about and be willing to share? Or is this whole endeavor pretty much done for?

https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2016/12/29/ ... t-service/

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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:23 am 

Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am
Posts: 2558
Location: Strasburg, PA
I second Big Jim's request. Since everything I know about this "deal" I have learned from this thread, I'd like to know what the latest railfan generated rumor is as well.


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 Post subject: Re: Maryland Delaware Railroad - Strasburg - New Tourist Tra
PostPosted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:16 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
The local press has been silent following the initial series of studies. A few interested parties from local government and the chamber of commerce made a trip to Great Smokey Mountain RR and nothing has been said since then.

The concept of a tourist rr would work well in this location.

Wesley
Live from Berlin, MD


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