Be thankful for all your donors and their contributions in this bleak holiday season. The local newspaper runs a charity fund collection at Christmas, last year they just about made their rather modest goal, this year they got to about 35% and the contributions stopped. Curiously very few of the hundreds of local political contributors who topped out their contributions to the Presidential election at $2300 each (that were recently listed in the same newspaper) have shown up on the Christmas charity donor list.

PC

This also might be an excellent time to start up a new excursion railroad...if you have the location scenery and price structure to make it work. People will always look to entertain themselves,so why not be an integral part of that market?

The costs of doing so are low right now. The chances of failure are high. Capital is still not easily come by from traditional sources, especially for a somewhat risky enterprise.

If I were a shortline operator looking for a tourist business or for community support, perhaps a good time to try with minimal cash investment - otherwise an uphill climb.

dave