http://www.gastongazette.com/article/20 ... H/?Start=1

If all goes according to schedule, the load out will be Thursday 24th and she'll be in her new home by the middle of the following week. Take any numbers and vision statements with a grain of salt......... Those versions of reality will be forthcoming in due time.

I keep seeing little perks here and there on the resurgence of the trolley, places like Seattle and Norfolk showing positives.

So, while we're working on vision beyond the first phase, I'm wondering if any of you guys at operating trolley museums would share your current ridership figures and operating and event program schedule? I'm trying to find some estimates of what a museum with X amount of programming is likely to deliver done under Y conditions........ There's really nobody else in the southeast doing what we want to do, and good information is hard to find. We've got some great natural advantages in our historic piece of track in a small town's nostalgic downtown in proximity to a major metropolitan area 20 minutes from an international airport, and how do we best take advantage of it?

Dave,

I would not build a business plan on tourists and the airport.

Most of our attendance is driven by local families enjoying an afternoon. Of late our birthday party charter business and holiday events at Halloween and Christmas really draw the big crowds.

Wesley

Glad we could help bring along your vision. We now have room for an exciting situation that is unfolding and, hopefully, bear fruit shortly.
Tell Nate we would like to see some pictures of its arrival.

Cheers
Robert
FVHRS

Thanks gents. Robert, glad to hear the load went well, and no doubt there will be more news posted once she's in her new home. I'm looking forward to hearing about your exciting news also.

Interesting, Wes. We're of course planning to develop programming to attract local people as often as we can interest them, but also wish to become something unique among regional tourist attractions as well as a part of the tourism picture in the Charlotte MSA. What have you tried that failed to interest patrons from other places?

All loaded and ready to go.

Most railfan based programming does not draw a crowd. Likewise we have tried to offer education and history programs for an adult audience and these do not draw a marked increased attendance on a given day. Events like antique car shows or guest musicians will bring increased attendance on the event day. And our Holly Trolleyfest is a proven winner.

Bottom line, our audience is parents/grandparents with children in tow and the focus of the visit is the ride experience, plus the O gauge model layout.

What has really hurt us at National Capital Trolley Museum is the loss of truly "local" media coverage in the Washington market. The local County paper stopped printing, and the Weekend activity insert in the Washington Post is a shell of its former self, now maybe 30 pages vs 60+ pages of 10 years ago. The TV stations won't visit in response to press releases and the radio stations no longer read free public service announcements. Paid advertising is just too expensive.

Wesley

Ah, staying newsworthy - and without disasters. If it bleeds it leads, and how to counter that? Thanks.

Well, she's safe and happy under a roof in her new home now. Two forklifts got her up in the air so the truck could drive off from under in the Belmont municipal shop this morning. The journey was uneventful, and everybody was pleased with her. I'm happy to report that she's in better shape than we had expected. Over the next month, we'll get into the nuts and bolts see what the restoration plan will be.

If anybody has technical information such as wiring diagrams for the Oporto cars we could sure use one to save us reinventing the wheel, and also if anybody has a Oporto spare brake valve handle or two there are none with the car. It's hole is round at the ends and flat on the sides......