Thinking about the difference between heritage operations in the UK and most of the tourist trains in the USA - what are we trying to accomplish here? "We" as in the greater railway preservation group.

In the UK - many operations are trying to preserve and/or recreate a specific era and the full experience of that era. Multiple trains operating with historic consists, stations and platforms and signaling all coming together to recreate the past.

Here in the states - we often end up with a "tourist train ride" where a tour guide tells jokes and history, often shouting louder and louder to a point where you can't hear the locomotive, clickety clack, etc. Is that what we want? Is that preservation?

Certainly, there are some great examples here in the USA as well - Illinois Railway Museum comes to mind as being the closest to what I've seen in the UK.

I just wonder if we somehow missed the point - and can we correct course?

East Broad Top and the Nevada Northern would count towards heritage railroads, the latter would have to be on a technicality as opposed to the former

why do you say "on a technicality"?

We have every manner of 'heritage' depending on how you interpret it, from the best to the least.

But the bottom line remains survival, you can't live on museum admissions, even a decent heritage railroad usually needs some professional staff, and cash flow is cash flow, so that's the conflict.

I'd say that 75% of everybody (if not higher) is surviving on special events, Thomas, Polar (and-or Christmas) that have little to do with 'heritage' but keep things moving.

The bigger question is how the UK operations successfully manage their capital and operational funding.

State or national supported operations are great, until the day politics change.