The culture is changing, technologies are enabling, and the audience is evolving, but what we have to offer remains the same: unique American stories, history lessons, experiences that appeal to the senses. We offer these things by way of movement, connectivity, entertainment, education. By nature of many conversations here and elsewhere, it's clear that it is critical for future success and growth that we become better story tellers and provide a better visitor experience.

What would a railroad attraction for the 21st Century look like, be like, feel like? What kind of programming, events, structures would be necessary, required? What kind of railroad line or trip duration? What kind of support facilities exist?

This isn't to say there is a "silver bullet," but more to identify ideal circumstances that may be possible for organizations to work toward. This is less about the "ultimate" railroad attraction experience (i.e. it doesn't need a 30-stall roundhouse and coal dock and super-elevated curves).

Imagine you could start fresh with the best of your assets, infrastructure, equipment, and all of your strengths today. What can we borrow from attractions in this century that experience so much success?

Consider the following:

1. Market driven - knowing your audience and what they want.
2. Value - not just bang for your buck, uniqueness, or affordability, but the ability to provide experiences that are invaluable, hard to repeat elsewhere.
3. Freshness- variety in offerings, events, trips, experiences, technology.
4. Design concepts - this is one of the issues we probably face the most, as people don't want to just come and SEE things, they want to DO things as well. Many of us relegated to existing lines or buildings, where growth, expansion, or updating is costly. Do we have places that enhance or compliment the visitor experience?
5. Audience - Kids love trains. Parents love kids. Families want to do enriching things together. But I hesitate to say our target audience is families with kids. Everyone should be our target audience.
6. Infrastructure - how critical are facilities for specialized restoration work, tear downs, rebuilds; same for theaters, meeting rooms, public areas?

Questions that arise in my head:

How important are authenticity (B&O Museum, East Broad Top, Cumbres & Toltec, heck even the Gettysburg RR of old) versus accessibility and functionality?

Location, location, location. Scranton versus Bellows Falls. Strasburg versus Cass. Durango versus Antonito. Grand Canyon or Bramson versus Alna or Altoona.

Some of the most stunning British excursion lines offer an experience akin to Williamsburg--you walk through a gate and you are suddenly back in Edwardian times. Is offering wi-fi a good idea or a bad one?

I've always wondered that exact thing myself, having been very familiar with some of the better UK operations. I can't think of any operation in the US that compares with what you often see in the UK (the Strasburg does come pretty close). Some of these British lines offer what historical re-enactors refer to an "an immersion experience." A few places in the US (such as Chama) have the infrastructure in place, but nobody seems to go the distance that UK operators seem to. Maybe it's a cultural thing?

As the public becomes more attuned to viewing the world through digital media, anything that's physical and genuine becomes more rare.......to me the issue is one of programming design - while what we can offer is far more immersive and sensual than a digital image of itself, we have to deal with the reality of shorter attention spans and the need for almost constant provision of more sensory input. Intellectual reflection is becoming a lost trait. I worry that we're losing the richness and depth of experience in the rush through flashing imagery.

Just because I like walking into a time-machine world such as Sandy mentions and savoring the experience, do younger people with digitally trained perceptive mechanisms want it too? Is it too slow and boring for their idea of reality?

dave

I think what the museum community needs to really understand if catering digitally to younger people effective at all in a RR museum? Generally, most young people are into trains already or are very much not into them and got drug there by their parents. For example, the last time my wife and I rode the C&TS, neither of saw hardly any kids at all the entire day. At the age of 42, I was actually on the younger end of the spectrum of the people who bought tickets.
Then, there's the ever-evolving societal concepts. Can you keep ahead of them? Right now, it's online and cell stuff but that won't last forever once another 'new thing' comes around. What happens in a few years after your latest 'newfangled' idea becomes as out of date as the steam locomotives you have on display?
Would you be wasting reasources on the young who really couldn't care less regardless what you do? I don't know either way, but I think it bears further review to see if 'making our museum more in line with young people today' is an effective use of the money.

I would resist at specifically appealing to any particular group or sect of people, because there are always the niche supporters and those that are harder to reach, but I genuinely believe our target audience must be everyone.

What counts are commonalities: people, either as residents or tourists, are seeking out experiences that create social connectivity, memories, and community. Whether or not trains appeal to any person is irrelevant if the experience is worth having, worth repeating, worth visiting. This is placemaking (i.e. the storytelling, experience of a place) that I feel like many railroad oriented places service very little or overlook entirely.

Making our trains "places" for "experiences" is key to relevancy -- you don't have to care about the New York Central Railroad or trains in general to want to be one of the 3.7 million to visit the New York High Line: http://www.thehighline.org/

KL

One thing that would seem to still be relevant for today's audience is a model railroad--and the better it is, the better it is. Note that I didn't say it has to be huge (although those of us who are in that hobby can recognize how that can be a plus in letting you recreate some really sprawling scenes), but I would say it should be really well done, well enough that you can recognize the scenes and equipment. Fortunately, much of this is easier to do than it used to be with the models that are now available, but we still need to pay attention to landforms, landmarks, and buildings. Most if not all of this would have to be scratchbuilt to get it right, with a few notable exceptions, such as certain station models for specific railroads.

Some YouTube clips on some model railroads that illustrate, at various points, the attraction these miniature displays have, the technological tricks that some have, the historic background of some model displays, and the ability of a model to recreate a real location that is considerably altered in its present form. Sadly, it seems no one miniature railroad combines all of these characteristics. Perhaps this is a challenge to the preservation community, and one that shouldn't be laughed at, at least in my view--recall how ship models are often the only representation of many prototypes that no longer exist, and that some of these models in museums are centuries old. . .

First up, a clip on the B&O's model displays, featuring some models that are historic in their own right. While there, take note of the advertisement for the museum's Civil War themed exhibits. Hollywood is missing out on not retelling the story of the General, or of the US Military Railroad Service:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VDHwosIJOQ

This turned up while looking for the item above--a glimpse at the Smithsonian model locomotives that are now on display in Baltimore. I believe at least some of these were built by former Smithsonian curator John White:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=wKs ... ature=fvwp

A bit too fanciful for what some of us have in mind, but notable for its technological achievements and for bringing in over one million visitors per year! We are talking about the Miniatur Wunderland in Germany. How many of us would like to get a traffic of one million visitors per year?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkmg3Y64_s

A ceremony--full scale and in miniature--for the 10-millionth visitor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrlydSzRipc

"Cab ride" on a Swiss intermodal train on the Miniatur Wunderland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBArNAyODLc

A large private model railroad in California that represents the Chesapeake & Ohio in the steam era. This is impressive to me, in that I recognize many of the locations and individual structures shown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2B6xxDRJAM

The potential is there, at least for certain applications and locations. At the same time, to really do this well requires a high standard of execution. How many of us are that good?

Chicago tried to have a worlds fair some years ago, but the community balked at it, it never took shape.

we didnt have the social media way back then, the "getting the word out" took the form of these fairs, newest inventions introduced in these fairs. The social media has changed how we present marketing, but so often things like the trainfests still show the locale attractions possible.

J3a-614 brought up a very interesting point. One railroad-related exhibit that I have seen that consistently attracted very large crowds was not at a railroad museum at all, it was a model railroad at a regional history museum. The layout was a multiple train operation, with the locomotives fitted with engineers point-of-view cameras and the cabooses equipped with similar cameras for a view along the train. The images were displayed on large viewing screens in back of the layout. Each time I visited the museum, the layout room was full of people, but particularly young children and their parents. It probably cost less to construct than most small equipment restorations, and the level of public interest seemed to be tremendous.

I realize that many contributors to this discussion probably object to model railroading as a public attraction in a railroad museum, but getting people in the door and getting them interested in the museum is the first step, and a layout may help in that regard.

PC

Kelly and group,

Here in Ohio someone has already done a whole building dedicated to the Model Railroad scene. While its a little over a hour drive from me in Columbus, OH it bring tons of people each year to the area and one of the most visited places in Ohio.

http://www.entertrainmentjunction.com/

I would also comment that the traveling Worlds Greatest Hobby two years ago had over 36,000 people in 2 days come through the doors at the Convention Center in Columbus. People seem to like the model trains as they can get in an get out with the kids pretty quick and the admission most of the time is $5.00 to $7.00 for the adults and $3.00 to $4.00 for the kids.

I think the biggest struggle I have found doing the marketing aspect is plugging into the places where the decision makers are at for going out with the family. People have so many options I feel like at times you have to be the loudest person in the room shouting come this way.

I feel if we are going to survive in the 21st century that partnerships like ASR and Midwest has done is good for everyone. The same building gets used by 2 groups with a common goal of steam preservation and in the end it good when you go for grants or a large donor that they can see there money to fix up the old roundhouse will be good for them in the end.

Just my 2 cents...Happy Holidays

Steven Harvey

I think 1 and 5 go together.....but consider that the audience you now serve may need to - through targeted marketing - be either expanded or replaced as it dies off. And, a target of "everybody" is also a target of "nobody". In the practical world, this means capitalizing on your strengths, working on fixing your weaknesses, and projecting your evolution into the future as your base changes. Many of us don't even know who we serve, who we CAN try to serve, and what our weaknesses are....so a bit of navel-gazing is a good place to start.

2 - value and experience go together! Wow! Another somewhat murky idea that needs to be further developed. And, BTW, the experience that matters is that of your visitors, not yourselves. Bring people who are entirely ambivalent about railroads and history into your place, run them through your program, and see what they think about your offerings. What bores them gets changed, even if it fascinates raillfans. Railfans will show up anyhow, are too few in number to matter, and mostly complain about what you do "wrong" while taking pictures and not buying a ticket. Focus your efforts where they will pay off.

2 kind of ties into 3 and 4. Once you find a supportive audience, you need to keep them interested in coming back. We've seen some effort go into touring exhibits and events - the Great Gramling Tank Engine Tour and the little blue guy are the most obvious. What else can we as an industry create and share? And, interactive and hands-on interests EVERYBODY.

6. Your infrastructure needs will vary depending on your mission. An archive doesn't need a restoration shop. Everybody needs clean pleasant restrooms. Theatres are costly to build and equip, but if you are CSRM or Steamtown it may pay to have one. Your mileage does vary, so think carefully before committing to any large capital project, unless you have lousy restrooms, then build nice ones NOW.

I'd interject a few comments on entitlement here....not the political buzzword kind, but an attitude I've seen mentioned that because we are passionate about what we are interested in we deserve to be supported by the public. The world doesn't work this way, or we'd all be healthy and everybody would have plenty to eat and never suffer under dictatorships or medievally-superstitious theocratic rule. Everybody is interested in being free, healthy and eating....but not everybody likes railroad history. We need to EARN the support of our communities through targeted outreach efforts made in ways that matter to them and form any strategic partnerships that help us contribute if we expect to receive support. Earning by doing is a great place to start from when considering any of what's mentioned above. Them first/ us after.

dave

How about a technology train. People including children love technology, computers , camera's, with displays such as the freedom train only using more technology themed cars. The big companies such as HP, Sony, Nikon Etc would use the train for advertising and showing products. When the train arrives at the different cities the model railroad clubs and other technology based companies could be displayed. Plenty for people including children to do.



Joe

It is always hard to answer any 'what if' question. I see two goals or aspects of trying to design (or fix) a railroad themed museum or train operation. The folks on the ground doing the work are passionate about preserving history in as accurate and authentic a way as possible. For that to happen there needs to be an income stream.

50 years a go we had a population that was much more in tune with the rail scene, having used or experienced it in everyday life. Increasingly that segment or demographic does not exist to the same extent and diminishes year by year, just as many of our preservation founders are passing. We cannot rely on playing the 'history' card or 'nostalgia' card to generate revenue.

I feel any such operation needs to be structured to be ENTERTAINING. That almost certainly means there is diversity in exhibits, and they do not necessarily have to be made based on the interests or aspirations of the members, what they hope to accomplish, what their vision of preservation has become.

What I am suggesting is a two fold approach. Things that are wide ranging, entertaining, quick hitters (we all know what the attention span of the current generation is), and use that revenue to support more accurate collection and restoration policies. We hope we will all have a niche or core group of those interested in history, but that alone will not pay the bills. Look to amusement parks and other entertainment venues to see what works, and do not try to produce a long ride, excursion train, the best turn of the century ride.

Most visitors today will not recognize (or care?) if any compromises or details are missing, so strongly consider disposable equipment for the ride. Either a replica, miniature, model railroad or all of the above and more. Get people to want to visit. That might be able to support the restorations, strong and detailed exhibits, a roundhouse, any other facet of what the museum vision was when founded. Both can co-exist on the same site, and the 'real' work of preservation can continue, and even be showcased with tours, etc for those interested.

Of course all that must be promoted and marketed and we all probably do a less than perfect job of that. It is not in our collective experience and few have the resources to make a successful business plan or business model based on the real world today. Yet it is no less essential in spite of the hurdles we may all need to address to survive.

I suppose we could all type pages and pages on this topic, but perhaps the above necessarily brief points should be considered. THEN - try to address stepwise improvements to what we offer the public and move toward that. Try something, if it does not seem to work, move on. It is not so much what we would do with a blank canvas as what we MUST do to change what we offer and the perception of the visiting public.

Bob Kutella