A single Thomas event can net well over $100,000, and in some cases, $200,000. Strasburg holds it three times a year, so they very likely net over half a million dollars a year from Thomas. You can obviously do a lot of restoration work with that kind of money.

I don't recall the numbers, but I don't think the one I was involved with made nearly that much. Obviously there are a huge number of factors that will influence the net income though, and I don't doubt your figure could be correct for Strasburg etc.

Ours netted in that range the past two years, so I'm sure Strasburg does even better. Not only because of their popularity, but I'm sure their expenses are much lower because they do it so often.

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Ok, that Strasburg shop photo looks like fun. You have a forklift fully extended, holding a bridge crane, driving around on a flatcar. Is the flatcar moving too?

Interesting thread.

We just completed another successful DOWT event and intend to continue hosting them in future years. Our institution believes that Thomas should be more than just about making money given the significant effort required to host a successful show. Hopefully for everyone it is also about attracting an underrepresented audience, raising community awareness about your institution and its mission, recruiting new volunteers/members/supporters, improving your retailing skills, increasing overall annual attendance, partnering with other community organizations, and bringing lots of tourists to your community.

Have you found a way to do these things without hosting DOWT? If so, congratulations and we might like to offer you a job. However we'd probably continue hosting DOWT and implement your other ideas as a way to expand the initiatives listed above.

I suspect that most host institutions wish a number of contract terms would change: merchandise terms such as price caps, ticket vending terms and manditory day of event ticket sales might be a few wild guesses. Some might even feel the Thomas people could be better at communicating with their hosts. However even the largest rail group is significantly smaller the Thomas company so a contract change is just as easy as, say, a small class three rr negotiating an agreement with a class one rr. Change isn't impossible, it's just slow to negotiate. But just as class three's generally provide some benefit to class ones, so do DOWT host museums to the Thomas company.

Does the Thomas group make a lot of money from events? Of course they do. They are certainly not the first company to discover that they can make money from their intellectual property and the use thereof. But they know a successful event has to make money for the host too or there may not be a future event.

DOWT is profitable for us but especially so in areas where dollars are not a measure of success.

I'd like to challenge other Thomas hosts to respond with positive contributions DOWT has made to their institution. (Since I'll assume you all made money, let's skip that one.)

Here is one to start the ball rolling: volunteers from the community that did not have prior involvement with the museum: city employees, several of the Mayor's children, a number of local high school and middle school students, staff from the local community hospital, a food booth (Salmon of course!) from our local native American tribe, board members who often feel out of place on the train or in the restoration shop, another non profit who provided and staffed an activity, and while not volunteer, the opportunity to hire local musicians to perform their own original children's music.

--Richard

Richard,
I agree with all you've said.... The community involvement, recruiting new members, making people aware of where we are and what we do, etc. I think one of the reasons we get the community support, particularly the city government, police, fire, etc. is that events like Thomas bring a HUGE influx of business to our community that would otherwise not exist. Yes, its lots of work, not only for the museum volunteers, but it also places extra burden on police, fire dept, paramedics, etc. However, it also serves to strengthen out relationship with them.

One result is when we do disaster preparedness drills at the museum using a mock train incident, the police, fire, and paramedics enthusiastically use it as a training exercise for there departments. Our conductor radios have a channel directly linked to the local 9-1-1 system, which is something not easily given out.

The few hotels up by the interstate a mile way, who usually only get the overnighters passing through, are booked solid when our blue buddy is in town. Then you have the gas stations, campgrounds, resturants, etc etc that all benefit. City, county, and state all benefit from sales tax revenue.

Local groups like those that provide ID-fingerprint kits for kids, those that set up a food booth to earn money for their cause, etc all benefit. DOWT has a tremendous financial impact on the whole community.

Is our blue buddy a lot of work? Yes. Are their standards high? Yes. Are there some nay-sayers in the org.? Yup! As has been posted previously, we could also point to things and say, "Paid for by Thomas."

DOWT may not be for every organization but we think he's worth it. Sorry, to ramble, but with the some of the negatives posted here, some of which were mine, I think you are correct in focusing on the positive.

Is DOWT a gated event where you have to control access, or is it open admission except for the train?

It depends on where it is being held. HIT Entertainment prefers it to be a gated event, but there are locations where it is just not possible.

The Heber Valley Railroad has an "open" arrangement that would be difficult to close off with a gate. During the first years of DOWT, we had a large number of "poachers" who would come and participate without paying. In fact, a number of locals came in and commended us for "hosting such a wonderful event, free of charge, for the kids". For a number of high-demand activities such as handcar or speeder rides, the petting zoo or temporary tattoos, the "poachers" would occasionally displace the paying guests. We solved the problem by using Tyvek wristbands, obtained at the will-call tent or window. We would tear off a small stub on their ticket and provide them with a wristband. Signs were placed at selected high-demand activities, indicating that wristbands were required for those activities. By marking those wristbands, we were also able to regulate those who returned numerous times for an activity, giving priority to those participating for the first time. We also have activities that do not require a wristband, such as musical entertainment, story-telling, magic shows and, of course, the gift tent and food concession tent! Participants retain the balance of their 3-part ticket, to ride their selected train (the conductor removes part of that ticket, leaving the guest with a "souvenir").

We use a different color of wristband each day. The wristbands are waterproof, virtually indestructible, and must be removed with scissors. The wristbands cost approximately 3 cents each and can be obtained through outlets such as www.pricechoppers.com in Florida.

Craig Lacey
Executive Director
Heber Valley Railroad