In the vast majority of states, if not every last one, you could report such a sign to the state Department of Labor or the equivalent, and the place would be brought up on charges of violating the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, if not Federal charges/enforcement and likely a lawsuit from civil rights attorneys.

Unless you're a university or the like and claim that you are "pursuing diversity."

The mistake, as it has been for the past 50 or more years, is openly stating the bias.


The problem, here and all over, is defining "exclusionary."

Our railroad museums tend to not have airplanes. They also tend not to have Greek or Roman art, or Navajo blankets, or petrified wood, or live animals on display. Does that make them "exclusionary"?

Our excursion lines generally don't have electric locomotives in use. Nor do they have Amfleet, or refrigerator cars, or stock cars. Are they "exclusionary"?

Nobody, as far as I know or have experienced, has "excluded" a person of color, a lesbian, a Vietnam veteran, a motorcycle gang, or the like from any rail museum, ride or organization that I am aware of simply for their membership in said category--and if they did, they'd have a well-deserved lawsuit on their hands. I'm certain it happened in the past, but I can't see it happening now. And if MS-13 decided to hold a rumble at some excursion line, well.........

The issue at hand here, and the one that generates friction and antagonism across Western culture, is whether or not some self-identified minority or special interest group decides for themselves that their members are not simply welcomed, but that their special interest group, as well as its views and agendas, are represented on their behalf to their satisfaction.

Under this rubric, it's not enough to simply show that some women worked for the railroads or on Sodor's lines. You are asked to take extra efforts to depict them as positive role models and advance "female empowerment." And I won't even get into (hopefully) hypothetical folks demanding exhibits framed around slavery being used to build Southern railroads, "evil rail barons" and their monopolistic practices, Federal expansionism and land grabs from Native Americans, etc. Are the issues there? Probably. Do they warrant your extra time and effort? It depends who you're appealing to and why (donors, taxpayers, protesters, etc.).

Most museums are founded and operated by self-selected groups of enthusiasts that support and believe in the positive attributes of whatever the museum is about--be it natural history, art, technology, automobiles, baseball, rock and roll, or what have you. When "outsiders" attempt to dictate to the managers and curators of such places curation or missions that won't necessarily put the subject of the museum in the kindest light--art made from festering garbage, a Creationist exhibit at the natural history museum, scandalous behavior by rock musicians, auto pollution by cars, etc.--you would be a fool NOT to expect some friction or blow-back from the museum, if not downright hostility.

The "poster child" for this is probably the restoration of the B-29 Enola Gay by the National Air & Space Museum. The planned 1995 exhibit for the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing was canceled outright after no sides could be placated satisfactorily:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay ... ontroversy

Lets get back to common sense, Thomas appeals to 4 and 5 year old boys and girls. The stories should appeal to that cohort. The stories shouldn't prompt a child to ask a parent a question that is hard to explain to a 4 or 5 year old in terms that the child would understand. The characters can be diverse just like a typical kindergarten class.

Getting back to the original subject. Our ridership has trended down over the years. It might be hard to pinpoint any one thing. The weather makes a big difference, year to year. The one thing that stands out for me, is when they started selling Thomas toys in retail stores and at cheaper prices. It was one less enticement for parents to make the trip and spend half a day without air conditioning. Not to mention the lost merchandise sales. Last year a HIT event subcontractor had a free event at a high end mall in a large city about 60 miles from us, on one of weekends that we were having our event. It noticeably cut down on our ridership.
Tom Hamilton

From where we sit it's a whole collection of issues:

1) Basic change in the show material to CG and the original PBS market
2) Contract structure making it possible to loose money as well as control
3) Undercutting of retail sales by competitive toy sales to big-box and discount brands lower than wholesale prices via contract to DOWT participants
4) crowding in on the event specials with all manner of competition from fixed sites and non-railroad participants to dilute the market.
5) Marketing controls, since day 1, controlled not by host but by DOWT.

I've heard a couple clients say it actually improved after Mattel got their act together. There's been grumbling over content, but remember what started this whole thing was the real models telling stories back 'in the day'. That's still a whole lot different from CG. I used to like to watch it with my kids simply because I admired the layout and modeling. The CG is not all that great, and neither is the storytelling, but I don't matter, kids do. Real models certainly reinforced the wooden-track model sales. EVERY kid wanted a Thomas to play with on wooden track.

The majority of my clients complain that they can still get pretty good attendance but struggle to make any actual money when its all over. It's amazing that you can still draw 15-25,000 people to any event and just break even with the way it's built. I still advocate it as a method to bring people to an area for economic impact where an entity needs that for political survival, but don't consider it a sure-fire way to make any bottom line for the operator.

There are still some powerhouses out there on Thomas, but it's sure no longer a sure thing by a long shot. The ultimate test is to watch your friendly neighborhood 4-year old in front of an episode and see if he's glued there or wanders off, subliminal social messages implied or not. If it doesn't hold their attention, mom or sitter has no distraction, off to something else instead.

I've been at least witness to some pretty interesting closed-cage matches with DOWT reps and DOWT hosts and host frustration has been there for a long time over these issues. Golden-goose slow roasted.

Very well put Randy. We ( NH&I RR ) concluded that at the end of the day what was left was not nearly enough to justify the tremendous demands it put on everyone on the team. And, that was in the 1990's when it still had its full time PBS home and the trinkets & trash commanded premium prices.

I'm so glad we decided to pass long ago. The North Pole Express program produces a MUCH better net to gross return with FAR less strain.

Ross Rowland

Do you really think that mattered? I'll admit, it did bother me. As a train geek and a model railroader, it was sad to see it go. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the target audience.

My grandsons, who are the target audience, don't seem bothered by it. Most of the shows they watch are cartoons, and if anything the Thomas stuff is more realistic than most of them.

I'm not sure if it mattered to kids?

This is an important point. Even if the Thomas event doesn't make alot of money, it can be a great political move and can also drive up annual attendance numbers which can make a difference politically too.

Also.. All of the guests can now be marketed to about other events (such as Christmas Trains, Kid friendly Halloween, etc.).

Another of the major UK preserved lines - The Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway - look as though they are dropping Thomas from their events programme.
Have seen it mentioned that it has reached the stage where the costs of staging the event are now more than the revenue generated. The one that was held over the past weekend was described as "the last for the forseeable future..."

It's sure that it's sad to see the icon of our childhood retiring, but cartoons follow trends like many other things, and Thomas is getting out of fashion, simply... There are new characters that kids see on TV, and that will "socialise" over in daycare or at elementary school, and our beloved tank engine isn't one of them...

However, having him retire doesn't mean he's dead, because many kids seem to like it when their parents and grandparents show them what they watched when they were young ; for example, I really enjoyed reading the books my father read when he was a kid and a teenager, and my son liked it when I showed him the cartoons that were big in France in the late 80s. Sure, they'll say that it looks old and is weird, but there's a good chance that they'll love it! It didn't bother me or my son, it didn't bother the kids of a couple colleagues and friends I recommended the "trick" to, so why should it be impossible?

Hillcrest Farms builds live steam rolling stock, including some very nice locomotives based on the Redwood Valley design. Those start just shy of $1/4 million and go up from there. I suspect the lovely farm railroad is designed to showcase and sell his products as well.

No idea how the finances all fit, guessing the trees are just part of it.

http://hillcrestreedley.com/locomotives