I want to start a discussion on Special Events. For now, specifically Haunted Trains, Ghost Trains, Pumpkin Trains, or anything related to fall. If you work with an operation that has some sort of special fall event, please let us know what you do and how it is working for your operation.

Thanks,

Eric Hadder
Grand Canyon Railway

Your neighbor to the south, the Verde Canyon Railroad, seems to have hit upon an alternative-market operation for adults, the "Ales on Rails Oktoberfest," which runs from mid-September through the end of October (traditional "Oktoberfest" marketing time in the USA).

This does seem smart, as Verde Canyon's operation is geared almost exclusively at adults, being a four-hour round trip through scenery aboard a mix of open flatcars and mostly "luxury" cars instead of coaches, with whatever liquor licenses are needed for both station and onboard beer and wine sales.

As I understand it, many of the heritage railroads run "pumpkin" trains, usually operating a shortened run "out to the pumpkin patch," a field festooned with pumpkins purchased from farmers and laid out for young children to select their own to take home as part of the price. How many RRs use this model as opposed to some other model--a car decorated "Halloween" style?

(A side note: the one time I had to arrange a "surprise" repossession of someone else's passenger car for them, upon pre-shipment inspection I found both leftover Christmas decor and the remains of fake cobwebs, with a few bits of candy and other Halloween decor to be found in the right places.......)

Halloween really DOES make sense as a theme for tourist RR and museum events --- In the first place, many railroaders are much more superstitious than religious, train yards can be spooky at night, stories abound of haunted locomotives and phantom lantern signals, etc... A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, by Botkin & Harlow (IIRC) has a number of ghost stories on flanged wheels which might provide inspiration for such events, and the old time RAILROAD MAGAZINE (edited by Freeman Hubbard) always contained a good short story or two, many of them ghost stories.

One idea that would seem suitable for Grand Canyon RR (and suitable for Halloween) would be the Murder Mystery Train. We ran these at Texas State RR many years ago, they always sold out, even though I think the idea is corny. Lots of things that I think are corny, appeal to the public, and could attract paying customers. Another good thing about it is that these extras ran at night, while our usual tourist trains ran in the daytime.

Oh, and if you have a few old tank cars hanging around, be sure to paint one up for embalming fluid service, another for eyeball juice, and one for the Red Cross BLOOD BANK...

Before this thread gets too redundant, I wanted to point out some things that come up with a simple group search:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43623&
23 posts on themed trains for holidays etc...

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43334
22 posts on strange theme trains

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41229
15 posts just on Halloween trains

My personal observation - IRM stopped having them when the sketchy strange people (not necessarily museum members) who temporarily inhabited older train cars that were not nesessarily slated for restoration actually caused damage breaking parts of the car and such, and making an unsafe environment on top of a scary one for visitors. It was highly rated, though.

There is a decrepit ex New Haven combine at the Northern Pacific Railway museum that is truly scary by itself. This is a car that all the stainless side sheets fell off. It is permanently kept with the Halloween themed interior. Not sure if they are still running a late October event with it.

In the 80s I recall that part of the scary part of the ride at the Monticello Railway Museum involved passing by an area where the train would be spooked from the outside. Not sure what they do lately.

Olin -

It's my understanding the MRyM no longer has the special "Scary Halloween Trains" that you mentioned, deciding instead to concentrate on Polar Express operations.

Les

We have seen very high demand for our fall "Pumpkin Patch" trains this year, enough to set off a last minute scramble to add capacity.

Our goal has always been to create family-friendly events. We have deliberately chosen not to run a Halloween "haunted" train. We don't want little kids remembering how scary the train was, plus events heavy on theatrics involve a lot of work and expense. But other venues have had great success with ghost trains and the like.

- Alan Maples
Everett Railroad

WJHL television: Ghost Train ready to roll at Tweetsie Railroad

Fall is the busiest season at the WW&F.

The WW&F's "Pumpkin Pickin' Trains to SeaLyon Farm" are basically sold out for the next 3 Saturdays; tickets are going quick for the final Saturday. Capacity is limited by the tractor hayride to/from the farm from our "Top of the Mountain" station (which abuts the back end of the farm.)

Running concurrently is the "Sheepscot Valley Steam Train" (just a train ride, no access to the farm.) This allows us to sell the remaining train seats not used by the Pumpkin Pickin' passengers. Instead, SVST passengers get an extended layover at Top of the Mountain station where we're giving handcar rides and self-guided fall hikes. (We need to hold the train at Top of the Mountain to facilitate a hourly schedule and meet at the midpoint of the railway.)

We also are doing two concerts (one sold out, one selling ok).

Details at:
http://www.wwfry.org/autumn

We gave up on a Halloween-themed train event many years ago. Instead, we've moved (successfully) to family-friendly events for the entire season, in partnership with one of the adjacent farms and several local bands (for the concerts.) As a result, 2020 was a record year in revenue for the WW&F, and 2021 will exceed that.

I think this reinforces the "event" style marketing that's needed alongside the "standard" train rides.

Fall/Halloween offers a ton of possibilities depending on how far you want to go with it. Like above everything from October fest style adult trains, to the popular pumpkin patch trips, etc.

"I think this reinforces the "event" style marketing that's needed alongside the "standard" train rides."

Collectively, we would do well to remember that for the general public, simply getting on the train is not reason enough get on the train, as I suspect it is for most of us.

Is their a TSA covid rule to reduce seating capacity or are you doing this voluntarily. Reducing capacity may make holiday trains unprofitable.

RMNE/NAUG runs Pumpkin Patch trains which seem to be pretty popular. It is true that events trains and first class cars are where it’s at. You gotta have a gimmick. John and Barney Gramling taught me that.

A 1st class car (Rutland combine) has been offered over the past few years with success. This year sees the very recent addition of a car solely dedicated to the service.

All trains are running at full capacity. Crews must wear masks as instructed. Mask mandate notices are posted at the station and on the website. Passengers are requested to mask up per mandate.

Is the general consensus on "first class" etc that it is effective?

I can also seem dome car seats being a great upsell on many routes.


How do alcohol sales contribute to train financial performance on Octoberfest style runs?

If I recall correctly, 1st class tends to sell out on each train.

B&O Museum's Facebook page today: