No, not a new "Mall Cop" movie. Yes, it is related to preservation, at least to some degree.

A quote in the streetcar or trolley bus discussion got me thinking.

I'm not familiar with the operation he mentioned, but it reminded me of this kiddie ride in our local mall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjE4ADNdRoU
It's a cute, and rather cartoony rubber tired steam train. I'm amazed they can run it through the mall when you can barely walk through the place a lot of times, but anyway, they do.

So... What does this have to with preservation? Well, the actual "train" has nothing to do with it. But what about the concept? This thing could have just as easily been made to look like pretty much any train. Amtrak Superliners would have been a natural due to the tall height of the coaches. Maybe a bi-level commuter train, paint it like Sounder. How about a fake F unit on the point? For that matter, it doesn't even have to be a train! Why not have circus wagons or farm wagons, pulled by a tractor. You get the idea, lots of options, but they went with steam trains and steam sounds.

They chose steam trains for a reason, they're popular, and even though there are probably no Moms left that actually saw a steam train in revenue service (maybe a few grandparents?) the term train ride STILL brings to mind a classic steam train.

What does this mean for your tourist railway or museum? Is steam really that much of a draw? Is the additional cost and effort justified?

What if one end of your line terminates at a shopping mall? Plenty of parking and all that Santa Claus train traffic.....

dave

Well, I guess you could ask the folks at Steamtown how that's working out for them...

My friend drives one of these at a summer camp. They just got a new "locomotive" for it. Yes, it's a locomotive shell on a tractor, but they did a fairly good job. The "locomotive" has moving replica piston rods, and has a G scale sound system installed on it (yes, there are four chugs to each rotation of the drive wheels). It's not super realistic, but it works for moving the kids around the camp.

I volunteered at the camp's Christmas event last December for the first time. While most of the volunteers who work on the train just wear camp-supplied hickory-stripe aprons with a picture of a locomotive on them, I wore my full conductor/ car attendant outfit that I wear when I volunteer on the local rail museum's train crew. The Christmas event takes place at night, so I brought along my recently-repaired 1913-ish Congor railroad lantern. My outfit impressed a number of people, including other event volunteers.

Out "on the line", I tried to "keep it real" too. When we had the train loaded, I called out my best "All Aboard!", and gave the real "proceed" lantern signal to the gate-opener and engineer.

The three minute train ride was a very popular attraction that year. We had an hour long waiting line for that three minute train ride. One family at the event actually recognized me as the same guy who punched their ticket on the rail museum's Christmas train.

While the train itself didn't run on rails, I did my best to bring a certain authentic feel to the whole event. I even got to play Railroad Bull, keeping teenage "hoboes" from hopping on the train while it was moving.

It may not be a real train, but you can still do a good job of recreating the experience through acting. It's called theatre.

This one makes the rounds of Smiths Falls, Ontario during special events, and RMEO is one of the main stops:

http://elliottd.fotki.com/sfrmeo/railfe ... 9-jpg.html

Steve Hunter

Seattle's Westlake Center has a 1960's monorail station on it.

One of China's shopping malls has a mini monorail running inside it:

Some malls have trolley systems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETeok9v-iYs

Beautiful double decker trolley at the Grove shopping mall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=jPN2qvy8NtE

These mall trains, along with the "historic trolley" shuttle buses we see everywhere, are further evidence that people actually "like" trains.

In a perverse manner, I believe this has actually made things worse for us. It has simply been too "easy" to create a rail-related attraction and have people show up to work for free or ride the train. Many other museums have had to struggle a lot harder to attract visitors, volunteers, and funding. As a result, I feel we take the public and our volunteers for granted, and our movement has not been forced to grow into a more mature industry.

There are signs of improvement. Some of these changes are being forced upon us as our prime constituencies age. We need to look at the museums (and tourist railroads) in our field that successfully attract and engage large numbers of people. The large public museums were designed from the start to appeal to the public, and for the most part, they pull in much larger crowds than the private non-profits. The Strausburg Railroad has brilliantly created an immersive rail-themed experience that has been popular to decades, while in many ways increasing their commitment to historic authenticity.

We could also use to look at museums outside of our field to see what they do to make up for the fact that they don't have trains.