It's that time of year again when I get to put some cinders back in my blood as an extra board engineer on New Hope's #40. I'll be running a good number of days 12/12-12/23 and would welcome any of you to take a 90 minute roundtrip with me.

The NH&I sells cab rides for $40. Please see...www.newhoperailroad.com for schedules and details. As I will not be on every day please ask them for my duty days if you want to ride when I'm on duty. Remember these are Santa trains so there's plenty of slow running to give Santa time to see all the kids before we get back to town.

My best wishes to all for a blessed Christmas and a healthy,safe and rewarding 2010.

Ross Rowland

You know, I am very surprised that they still charge such minimal fees for cab rides up there. It is a great deal. 40 gives a good ride, especially with a lengthly consist.

And considering that their Santa Train COACH SEAT Adult tickets are $35.50 and $29.25 for Children ($3-4 cheaper during the weekdays), they should be at least charging double for a cab ride over the holiday.

If you're going to rape the willing, why not go equal?...tis the season to be greedy!

I feel bad for the family of, say, 5 that shells out $200 just to ride a 90 minute trip (don't forget the parking and photo fees, and on board snacks if you're hungry), when the cab rider is getting far more bang for his buck.

Seriously, Strasburg only upped their fares by $3.00 for their Santa Trains over regular fares. What Gives with NH&I? ... they must know something if they're selling out the trains (which says a lot about the naivety of their customers).... is it something in the water?

Anyway, Happy Cab Riding. I highly suggest it!

How I wish I lived anywhere nearby, would love to say I got a cab ride with the guy who founded the American Freedom Train! Forty clams for a cab ride isn’t that bad a deal these days, either. I’ve heard some lines are into three digits these days.

Juniors post deserves a reply.

The NH&I is a very well run professional organization who operate with the basic approach that on the passenger side they are in the entertainment business competeing for the consumers discretionary dollar. They are very atuned to what the market will bare for their product and do their best to maximize their revenues ( successful biz. 101) so as to stay in business and to generate the needed positive cash flows to continue investing in improvements in the property.

The proof is in the pudding. They have managed to take what was an operation on the brink of bankruptcy in 1993 ( when Paul Nichini-CEO and his team took over) and turn it into one of the best tourist railways in the nation. They've brought the track up from barely acceptable Class1 to a very well maintained, smooth riding well manicured right of way. Every year they upgrade one or more of the coach/parlor fleet and they run steam 9 months/year reliably. In addition they've grown the freight business substantially. They're not the Strasburg yet but they're inching closer every year!!

We had a journal run hot yesterday on #40's tender but the guys were able to replace the errant crown brass so that she only missed 2 trips and will hopefully be fine for the rest of the Santa schedule.

Had great crowds yesterday with a good number of the trains running sold-out so I guess they've done a good job with the price points!!

It was a pleasure to have had 2 Rypners aboard and I hope to see more of you soon.

Merry Christmas, Ross Rowland

Sounds like a great time and a great value. Don't look a gift iron horse in the smokebox! Get'em while they're hot! If I were closer I'd gladly give $40 towards steam preservation just to shoot the sh*t with Ross at a Mickey D's.

Steve
Happy AFT Rider Kankakee - Homewood, IL 1975

Depends on the length of the ride. $40 for New Hope sounds about right. However, I paid $5 for a ride in Southern FP-7 #6133 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum on the day after Thanksgiving. That was in addition to the $5 charge for the train ride, and worth every penny since it beat the hell of of the other alternative, taking the wife and mother-in-law dress shopping on Black Friday. My brother-in-law pulled down than chore.

I was at New Hope for a good part of the day yesterday and Friday and I can attest that we had many near sold out trains if not completely sold out trains with our 5 passenger coaches (plus a 6th car just for Santa). I agree the price may look steep but it seems so far that many people are willing to pay it. As long as they are willing to pay it. As for the whole steam cab ride with Ross deal, I'm his fireman the 17th. Last Santa season I recall having more cab riders than in previous years, I wonder if this trend will continue.

I'll agree with what you said. Very deep pockets kept that place afloat in the first several years of current management, post Buzzard. The old "what the Market will bare" attitude is what makes me wonder where they plan to take this. Surely Strasburg knows what the market will bare, yet they haven't jacked their prices through the roof and they easily could with the comparison services they offer.

I can garuntee if NH&I charged half of what they do for all their services, they would be selling out not just special events, but regular runs too. Their marketing (financial) is toward what out of towners (New Yorkers) will spend, while they forget the locals who could be their daily bread and butter. Don't paint too beautiful a picture. They haven't yet graced the number of annual riders that they had when they reopened in 1991, yet they easily could.

I can think of several well run railroads (as a for-profit businesses) that don't rape their customers befor they even park their car.

But again, the cab ride deal is a great one.

Junior the number of riders is not the objective, the number of dollars per train is. Again, the train is an entertainment vehicle competeing for consumer discretionary dollars that will be spent to entertain that customer. Maximizing the top line income to the absolute limit possible is the constant objective...much more important than the number of bodies carried.

I don't have figures in my head and I didn't get involved there until 1995 so I can't compare today with 1991 but I highly doubt that in 1991 they carried anywhere near the folks they do now on the Polar....oops forgot about that pesky royalty thing... North Pole Expresses. On a busy December weekend now we can carry as many as 4,000 riders all paying a good buck!!!

Merry Christmas...Ross Rowland

And $15 to park in their lot. But in these days, $40 for a steam loco cab ride is very reasonable- and would be a fun & unique experience for the average tourist.

I hate the cost of parking debate at New Hope, but since somebody brought it up. Have you ever noticed the price to park anywhere else in that town? I admit the RR parking lot is among the highest price for parking however at the same time people still fill the lot on a nice day since the town of New Hope has such limited parking and it helps pay the bills. A person who wishes to ride the train and not pay for parking can still always park in Lahaska and ride the train for free. At least during the regular season.

Yes, the NH&I ticket can be steep. We did the Christmas train 3 years ago, and it was great... well worth the money. As others have said, New Hope is an expensive date no matter WHAT you do.

However, figure this. Since Paul took over, not only do they field steam 9 months a year, they have done it for more than a decade and a half. There was never a no-steam year in that stretch. And they only have one serviceable steamer to work with, so it's not like they have the luxury of a replacement.

How many single-steam locomotive operations have that track record?

Seems they are doing something right.

Rob

Mr. Davis raises a good point. The shop crew under Eric Hessler's leadership is rarely given the credit they have richly earned by keeping their one serviceable steam in continuos service all these years without missing a beat.

Real progress is being made on the pocket 4-8-4 and perhaps in another season or two they'll finally have a second horse in their stable to back up 'ole #40, and I'm sure they'll be most happy when that day arrives!!

Ross Rowland

The cab ride price sound very reasonable. I have avoided New Hope for many years because of the high cost of everything there. It seems the whole town has the "let's shake down these people for everything we can" attitude. Everybody overcharges for everything. I can't fault the railroad for joining in, it is probably an expensive place to do business. The train ride is really nice but I don't see why so many people come to dump money into the town. I think overall Jim Thorpe is a far nicer destination in the tourism realm and I have always felt that Wilmington and Western is a far better value and a nicer ride.

The NH&I is engaging in capitalism. The laws of capitalism is not subject to revision or repeal (although Obama is giving it all he's got). Apparently there is a demand for steam train rides, and the NH&I is supplying them. If the rates were indeed too high the demand would dwindle, and the cost of supply would have to drop. The NH&I is not catering to railfans, they are catering to tourists who are in that town, and they are competing with other forms of entertainment in that town.

Why this desire amongst us to eat our own? Are you jealous that the NH&I can charge the prices that it does and still has a healthy ridership? Would you like to see them lower their prices to the point where they park the steam and fire up the diesels? Would that make you happy?