I could send this direct to Strasburg, but I figured why not use RYPN?

Strasburg,

I am happy almost all of your projects work out. It is great that all your cars have permanent homes. You only achieve big and consistently when you think smart. The Internet is full of non-thinkers; smart doers are content to win only some of the time but they win big and consistently. When a project like Steam Punk works out and you still look for the next success, that's a pretty good outcome.

My first introduction to steam was through Strasburg and No. 4. The last steam trip (of many) that my grandmother made was at your railroad behind one of your expanded roster of engines. Later, my then pre-K niece rode behind Thomas and declared “this is the best train ride I’ve ever been on” –and since she also rode behind another blue engine, that took some doin’. Pictures of family posing with your locomotives are part of my family's history.

I hope you keep having good ideas. I've made sure my young niece has had many special memories on and nearby the rails... Sleeping in the Red Caboose Motel, feeding goats and holding baby chicks at the Cherry Crest adventure farm, riding the cranky cars, the Cagney, the open car, the dinner train. Moments like the surprise that came when she was disabused of the notion that the “Chocolate Express” wasn’t pouring Hershey’s Syrup on everything.

I am sure some folks will see this as me being a fan boy or cast some other aspersions.

In the end, I am just a kid of sometime in the '60's who was blown away steam among the Amish Cornfields. Steam that runs all the time only because people had the smarts and perseverance to turn a tiny critter and an abandoned line into a safe and profitable operation. I expect you’ll be running when I’m not.

Onward and upward!

Superheater

Full Disclosure: This unsolicited testimony is the result of dropping a lot of coin at Strasburg. Other than that I have no relationship with the SRR.

Supe,

Well-written tribute. It is nice to give thanks when thanks is due.

Wesley

Thank you.

But it apparently was unwelcome on Interchange.

The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure I know who pulled it.

What makes Strasburg so fantastic is that they made a spectacular event an everyday, money-making business.

We are involved in an odd hobby where much of the fandom ignores the spectacular every day occurrances (steam at Strasburg), and idolizes flashes in the pan. Strasburg has probably exposed more people to steam railroading, and in conjunction with RRMPA across the street, railroad history than any special excursion, one time event, or proposal.

We idolize the wrong people and look to the wrong people for guidance.

Well said, superheater.

Strasburg is a very professional outfit that deserves to be recognized for the job they do, not just for any one thing; the number of people they expose to steam railroading, the excellent job they do maintaining their equipment, the hospitality they show to each and every guest, and the superb contract work coming out of their shops. Taken individually, each is commendable, together, it makes for a very good company.

The employees of the Strasburg Rail Road clearly take pride in what they do, and management is capable of seeing the big picture. Taken together, I have no doubt Strasburg could achieve anything they wanted too.

"You think you are fooling people but you are not.

Your original post and this one is tongue in cheek. Someone posted good remarks about Ross Rowland and that got your goat."

Mr. Lisowski, I'd commend you for your sleuthing, but there was no attempt "fool" anybody. I publicly revealed my motivations.

I'm not sure why you think everybody that disagrees with Ross and the devotion of his admirers is a nefarious sort.

The person attempting to fool people is the individual who posted the Ross tribute because it included several thinly veiled insults and he has in the past done things like surreptitiously linking into a political campaign. I softened, but did not remove those insults.

That I paraphrased somebody else's words to advance a different point of view, oh well, I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

"You chose to make this post using Strasburg as a correlation between Ross Rowland and his endeavors versus Strasburg and theirs. Apples to Oranges."

Well, yes. But the difference is far greater than that. I was not "using" Strasburg, I have too much respect for them as the genuine article.

Either the original post was "tongue in cheek" and you were "using" Strasburg to make that comment, or you were not in anyway making that post to poke fun at anyone.