What classes of tickets do you offer? Not so much Adult/kids/etc but like coach, first class, open air, and so on. Give a little description of each if you can. Right now we only offer a basic one ticket for everything and I wanted to see what others do.

Thanks

Hi Clay,

It would probably be helpful for some of us if you could identify the railroad/streetcar museum or tourist line that you are associated with.

As for our Minnesota Streetcar Museum, we are a small all-volunteer "living history" operation with two demonstration railways. One railway is located in southwest Minneapolis and the other in suburban Excelsior, Minnesota. We charge a flat $2 for a ride on our historic Minnesota Streetcars on either line. We charge extra for special events such as our Streetcar Adventure camp, PJ party trolley, pumpkin patch trolley, holly/Santa trolley, etc.

We also charter our streetcars at a general $65 per half hour.

Thanks!

Yeah no problem, I'm a volunteer at the Southern Michigan Railroad Society. Not looking to change things really, just wanted to see what others do.

WRM offers a single class of ticket which is good for unlimited rides on the day of issue.

If operations are stopped by rain then rain checks can be issued on request.

During our spring wildflower trains ("Scenic Limited") we offer a first-class upgrade which is good for one round trip on our parlor car. Cookies and soft drinks are served.

Look at the Durango & Silverton or Grand Canyon websites. They probably offer the most diverse ticketing of any tourist railroad in the country.

The D&S has always offered charter cars and coach/gondola or first class. In 2005 they added cab rides and speeder rides, and another couple of years saw Presidential, adventure, and premium class service being added. They accomplished this by converting existing equipment to a higher class and adding some nice amenities, which you will find on the ticket page. The Silver Vista was built near to the original and has been a great hit with ticket sales and providing a tangible sight to what once was.

http://www.thetrain.com

http://www.durangotrain.com

GCRY definitely has a wide variety of seating: coach class, first class, dome class, and parlor class. If you ever get a chance to ride parlor, jump on it, especially if it's in the "Santa Fe". The "Santa Fe" may not have an observation platform, but my goodness, it's absolutely STUNNING inside.

And for unlimited exploration of WRM's large and very remote 25-acre campus. Map here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/polybalt/4 ... 920799988/
People tend to dwell onsite for a while as there are many things to do beside the train. Two public carbarns, a snack bar, bookstore, library, and a picnic grove. That is popular with groups and clubs looking for an outing and a place to set up.

WRM, like most rides I know of, run from "the middle of nowhere" to "the middle of nowhere". That means the ticketing system does not need to account for random townsfolk hopping on the train at the far end. Orange Empire Railway Museum has a "far end" in the town of Perris. I wonder how they do it.

On Pumpkin Patch days, WRM tacks on a $2 surcharge. This surcharge goes to the local Rotary Clubs, who run the Pumpkin Patch event itself. WRM simply does parking (a huge job in itself) and the trains. There's nowhere to park at the Pumpkin Patch site proper.


And this sells out very quickly, people buy it sight unseen.

2007 advise given to me from insiders at the Shore Line (Conn.) Trolley Museum, back when the economy was much better:
Expensive 1st Class tickets will only bring in money from the New Rich, that is, subway car riders. Real rich people spend their money in more refined places than a trolley museum.
We do have higher priced "tickets" where the visitor also gets to run one of the cars, or gets exclusive use of the car for the whole party.