Has any museum done any scientific marketing or consumer research that identified specific tourist railroad and/or rail museum market segments? Of special interest are in segments based on customer interest; affinity group affiliation; hobby interest that led the customer to visit the attraction; and so forth. The usual demographic descriptors (age / number in party / distance traveled to view the attraction) are of secondary interest. Please contact me directly at amiller@rtms-movietrains.com if you wish.

amiller@rtms-movietrains.com

You might have some luck at traininc.org. They are an assoc. of tourist train owners.

retsquid@tvec.net

I read that the trips need to be be kept down to under what was it 3 hours? 4 hours I can't recall now. For the ideal length segment. Anything interesting U planning?

bnsfbarker@aol.com

Hi Art;

Unfortunately this is the kind of research most smaller tourist lines don't have the time or resources to do. Some of the larger leaders like Strasburg, Grand Canyon, Texas State, Nevada Northern, Railtown, Steamtown and most especially Durango and Silverton probably have this information insofar as it affects their operations which are varied in locale and length and region so it might be interesting to compare........

Hope I don't offend by leaving anybody out.

The parent company of D&SNGRR also operate Great Smoky Mtn RR - two very different entities with very different markets and operating requirements. They may have some internal studies which compare both and reach some conclusions. Also, Georgetown Loop and Royal Gorge ditto.

I don't think there is a formula guaranteed to produce success. We would have railroad clones and nothing else if that were the case. Hanging around this business for a couple decades or so in general I would suggest an impulse buy cost and time commitment, location in an area already infested with tourists of scenic beauty, and a well produced visit experience might increase chances of success.

Dave