Yes, there certainly is. In fact, they just celebrated their annual Holiday a few days ago.

The group is called "The Internal Revenue Service". They're not much fun though...

"Do you suppose there's a group of people who dress in bad suits and pretend to be accountants for personal enjoyment?"

Some people ARE accountants for personal enjoyment.

Adding Machine courtesy of Victor, greeneyeshade visor courtesy of our friends in Britain who wear them for the sport of bowls.

Yes but what rule changes would you sujuest.

That depends.....everybody's situation is different.

dave

As noted, that depends on your situation. Typically children under two ride free if they're in the adults lap. So, one per adult fare.

If you have a kids ride free for older kids, you could stipulate "kids ride free*. *limit of 2 kids per paid fare. (Or 1, 4, 8 if you like Octomom...)

One place with which I work has a "Family Admission" plan, covering two adults (parents, grandparents, whatever) and any number of kids for a flat price. Despite the potential for abuse, I don't think anyone has tried to push their luck by bringing in the kids of all their friends, or any random kids they find along the road. If a "daycare center visiting" situation arose, I'm sure they'd ask some hard questions.

One could define a "group" as anything larger than a nuclear family, and provide a rate schedule for that......

dave

Offer group fares and, if you have some times that are poorly patronized, offer off-peak group fares for such things as day care operators. Note to place firmly in the fine print that there are no more than X number of children per chaperone.

Empty seats are always a loss, so if you can put anything in that empty coach, you have a better chance to recover you short term, and possibly long term operating costs.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Or, you could actually go out and encourage groups to vist at the most convenient times to host them.

If you haven't developed a mailing list of day care centers, schools etc and built a program and marketed it to them, you are missing out on an opportunity to take control of the situation and make it work for you.

dave

Update:

Strasburg is having a Steampunk Weekend this weekend.

A write-up in the local nightlife monthly "magazine"/newspaper:

http://www.flymagazine.net/lancaster/la ... estory.htm

Part of the article:



These young folks could well be your future volunteers, trustees, or directors. Go after them with everything you have.

it isnt exactly historical than it is taking the old west concept and mixing it with today's culture. Think Wild Wild West and sometimes more edgy.
Someone takes a computer keyboard and makes it look like an old west like typewriter.
and so on.

So what? The cash is real, as is the balance on their non-historical "credit card" (we presume).

Try not to bite the hands that want to feed and support you.

I've had the fun of having to seat a day care group. Even with a little warning, it can be a challenge, but in general they're okay on waiting for the next train as long as they have something to do. It helps when you are running a train every 20 minutes though. There were plenty of parents, most of the day care was sitting on laps.

Waltham Massachusetts host a Steampunk festival every year. It's actually pretty big (and getting bigger every year) to the point where Waltham has been deemed the International City of Steampunk. It's held at the Charles River Museum with many venues for music, art work (for sale) and a variety of vendors selling handmade steampunk gear and unusual tech devices like steampunk lamps, keyboards, bikes, furniture and I've even saw an old victorian stove fitted with modern infrared burners and insects (like beetles) imbedded with mechanical devices for sale. They also had a steam powered car, calliope and other steam powered contraptions on display. I've gone to it twice and I love it. Im not sure what the date is for 2014 but it's usually around the same time so I assume it will be in May. Oh and there is a train station that runs right through the middle of it but I have yet to see a steam engine :o)
Here is the link their last show:
If you consider going let me know and I'll show you around.

http://internationalsteampunkcitywaltham.org/WCF/

Many years ago at TVRM, we occasionally did living history activities with local Civil War reenactor units. During the war, a breastwork was erected on South Chickamauga Creek where the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad and Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia crossed the creek (within 1/2 mile of each other). The fortification had a detachment of troops and perhaps one or two field guns.

On certain agreed upon weekends, the railroad permitted public access to the fortification through our property and use of the parking lot for the reenactors and visitors. They provided volunteers to escort visitors to and from the fortification and all live fire demonstrations were done at the fortification. The reenactors also provided volunteers in period uniform to ride each train. The volunteers explained the event that they were reenacting and extended invitations to the passengers to visit the fortification upon detraining at Grand Junction. The reenactors were provided with a public timetable and time permitting, the train would stop on the Chickamauga Creek Bridge so that the passengers could see the fortification and (if they were ready), the reenactors could fire a couple of shots with the cannon.

We also provided trains for chartered reenactor activities, including hauling a bunch of reenactors from Chattanooga to LaFayette, Georgia on flatcars. For legal and safety reasons, the reenactors were required to ride in coaches from our property to Rossville, Georgia. At Rossville, they boarded the flatcars coupled behind the steam locomotive and the rear section separated to run as a second section to LaFayette. The trip had been arranged well in advance with the other railroad and approved. That was quite a unique trip. The second section consisted of a GP-7, work car (with water tank, compressor and hose) and the passenger coaches.

As for old and new technology, there are kits marketed that will permit you to convert a manual typerwiter to a computer keyboard (while still permitting regular use as a typewriter). Nothing more than a set of rudimentary electrical contacts and a chip with board.