The Nevada Northern consist returned home to Ely this week and they'll be preparing for their upcoming season.

We 'lucky dogs' had another article in the business section of Thursday's paper (use the link below). This is for those that are interested in a little review of how the Games went and (with apologies to HKA) a little more of our sob story (read "history") of how we got where we are.

'doc'

Deseret News Article
utweyesguy@aol.com

Just curious as to the capacity of the train during the 17 days. The way it works out is a ridership of 353 people per day. At the risk of tossing cold water on success, 6,000 doesn't sound like a lot of folk given the duration, though the per head revenue is pretty sweet for the trip that was made.

How any seats were available per day?

Jim



http://nctrans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com

Besides the obvious good news carried in this article, we should note how well the article itself was written. No references to Lionel toy trains, Casey Jones, or the almost-mandatory newspaper quote: "I've been train crazy since I was a little boy". Both the writer and the persons being interviewed are to be commended for a fine job...

The Nevada Northern consist returned home to
> Ely this week and they'll be preparing for
> their upcoming season.

> We 'lucky dogs' had another article in the
> business section of Thursday's paper (use
> the link below). This is for those that are
> interested in a little review of how the
> Games went and (with apologies to HKA) a
> little more of our sob story (read
> "history") of how we got where we
> are.

> 'doc'


bobyar2001@yahoo.com

> Just curious as to the capacity of the train
> during the 17 days. The way it works out is
> a ridership of 353 people per day. At the
> risk of tossing cold water on success, 6,000
> doesn't sound like a lot of folk given the
> duration, though the per head revenue is
> pretty sweet for the trip that was made.

> How any seats were available per day?

Jim,
I don't have the official response that Doc could give you, but I was an engine crew memeber and we had the ability to carry about 240 seat fares per train, that doesn't take into account the standing passengers on the open air cars or the caboose. I know on a couple of runs we went over the 300 mark, and of course on the low side before the TV spot. Usually we ran 3 or 4 trains in the morning, the lake run and then 3 or 4 returns trains at the end of the events.

I would share with you, that those heavy trains could really be felt on the head end and we gave the engines a real run for their money on the grrade back to Heber. And you're right, wouldn't trade it for anything the world. The long days were worth all the effort and the crews were some of the best I have ever worked with.

For those who had the chance to see the winter operations, it was a treat. And there is nothing in the world like 24 hour steam operations. 6000 plus people might not sound like allot, but when you are doing it with 6 car trains, and the majority didn't do it till the last week and half, we moved allot of folks.

You would beleive how enjoyable a triple engine distributed power run is when you the trailing engine. When 75 wants to, she can really give a push.

My 2 cents.
Art


artchase@hotmail.com

> Just curious as to the capacity of the train
> during the 17 days. The way it works out is
> a ridership of 353 people per day. At the
> risk of tossing cold water on success, 6,000
> doesn't sound like a lot of folk given the
> duration, though the per head revenue is
> pretty sweet for the trip that was made.

> How any seats were available per day?

Jim

With the 'wheeling and dealing' that went on before the Olympics, HVRR had to 'exempt' one of our major at-grade crossings for the fleet of buses that were transporting to the Soldier Hollow venue. (There were those higher-ups in the Olympic organizing committee that wanted the Railroad completely shut down for the three weeks -- security risks, transportation conflicts, and such).

With the crossing exempted we were going to be allowed only a given number of 'flagged' crossings where we could stop the vehicular traffic and take our 17.5 seconds to get the train through "at speed". Plans were made to run upwards of four trains out in the mornings (at 240 to 300/train). As I remember, there were few days with four trains, most were 2-3 train days. As was pointed out in the article, with the airing of the "Today Show" segment, ticket sales skyrocketed and we more nearly hit capacity during the last week. Do we wish that the NBC "Today Show" segment had aired a week earlier? Sure--it would have probably doubled the income.
But what if another figure skating judging conflict had bumped our story altogether...HKA said it best -- "lucky dogs"

In speaking with those at HVRR over the last couple of weeks, it was a great experience. Money was not made "hand-over-fist", but enough was generated to comfortably get through the leaner winter months and to better prepare for the busier Spring-Summer-Fall seasons (yes, we are a year-round operation).

We are still looking at(and thankful for)the fact that never in our wildest dreams could we have gotten the exposure that we did.

So don't worry about your 'cold water' on our success -- everyone involved felt the many "+'s" outweighed the few, if any, "-'s".

Also, let me mention here that I know that many that were visiting from across the nation mentioned to me that they knew of, or had heard of, a steam railroad being in their area -- so some of you will be having visitors this summer who had their interest (re)stimulated by riding on the 2002 Winter Games Steam Train. Take advantage of it. Get them interested in your programs.

'doc'


Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

> Jim

> With the 'wheeling and dealing' that went on
> before the Olympics, HVRR had to 'exempt'
> one of our major at-grade crossings for the
> fleet of buses that were transporting to the
> Soldier Hollow venue. (There were those
> higher-ups in the Olympic organizing
> committee that wanted the Railroad
> completely shut down for the three weeks --
> security risks, transportation conflicts,
> and such).

> With the crossing exempted we were going to
> be allowed only a given number of 'flagged'
> crossings where we could stop the vehicular
> traffic and take our 17.5 seconds to get the
> train through "at speed". Plans
> were made to run upwards of four trains out
> in the mornings (at 240 to 300/train). As I
> remember, there were few days with four
> trains, most were 2-3 train days. As was
> pointed out in the article, with the airing
> of the "Today Show" segment,
> ticket sales skyrocketed and we more nearly
> hit capacity during the last week. Do we
> wish that the NBC "Today Show"
> segment had aired a week earlier? Sure--it
> would have probably doubled the income.
> But what if another figure skating judging
> conflict had bumped our story
> altogether...HKA said it best -- "lucky
> dogs"

> In speaking with those at HVRR over the last
> couple of weeks, it was a great experience.
> Money was not made
> "hand-over-fist", but enough was
> generated to comfortably get through the
> leaner winter months and to better prepare
> for the busier Spring-Summer-Fall seasons
> (yes, we are a year-round operation).

> We are still looking at(and thankful for)the
> fact that never in our wildest dreams could
> we have gotten the exposure that we did.

> So don't worry about your 'cold water' on
> our success -- everyone involved felt the
> many "+'s" outweighed the few, if
> any, "-'s".

> Also, let me mention here that I know that
> many that were visiting from across the
> nation mentioned to me that they knew of, or
> had heard of, a steam railroad being in
> their area -- so some of you will be having
> visitors this summer who had their interest
> (re)stimulated by riding on the 2002 Winter
> Games Steam Train. Take advantage of it. Get
> them interested in your programs.

> 'doc'

Mighty fine, doc. Yes, there are many times when pure figures on ridership, revenues, etc. don't tell the whole story; certainly the good will and word of mounth advertising by 6,000 folks can do a lot in the long run and after all, that's really all there is--the long run.

My congratulations to all who pulled it off safely and with class. Jim



http://nctrans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com