Minnehaha Park

railfan261 · **Joined:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:30 pm **Posts:** 226

HudsonL wrote:

Fine, as soon as you send cubic piles of $$.

Oh, and also figure out how to triple the number of FRA qualified volunteers.

And a nice ready to run 5 car train set with at least 3 locomotives would be nice.

-Hudson

Hudson:

Your feedback is excessively negative.

MTM could enter into a partnership with the park board with administers Minnehaha Park as well as the Minnesota Commercial, the short line which operates the active portion of the route, plus the Minnesota Historical Society. I am not saying they should go it alone.

MTM could offer trial runs out of the park as well as invite other trains from other groups to visit the Minnehaha Depot.

HudsonL · **Joined:** Mon May 24, 2010 10:22 am **Posts:** 548

No, just realistic.

The MTM is already running the Jackson Street Roundhouse & the Osceola & St. Croix RR.

Without a large infusion of $$$ and new Volunteers, there is no way they would want to be involved in a new operation.

I wouldn't even get into the NIMBY reaction.

-Hudson

P.S. It takes 80+ man hours to run a Steam Locomotive for a weekend.
Everything else takes even more man hours.

Quote "I have been a model Railroader for 50 years, and I know you don't use a sledgehammer on a steam locomotive"

railfan261 · **Joined:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:30 pm **Posts:** 226

Well Hudson, you are welcome to be realistic.
I say "dare to dream."

eze240 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:29 am **Posts:** 319

It may not be a bad idea.....but what are the realistic costs?
I'll make some assumptions for simplicity...
Typical insurance, a 5-10 million liability policy will cost somewhere around $50k per year (10 million).
Crew costs vary, steam may not be the best choice here.....if you pay your crew your looking at, say $15/hr, with a 8 hour work day, etc.....probably a minimum crew of two to four, puts you around $1000/wk or $52k yearly, running year round.....
Plus, there are a number of other costs....track lease,fuel, maintenance, etc.....

How much can it make?
If you use a self propelled car, like say an RDC....call it 80 seats....
Tickets at $10 per person....
How many trips per day? One per hour?....let's say, six trips plus an hour prep time to start and shut down....
Gives an estimated maximum gross potential income of $4800 per day, if it ran full.
If it ran only on weekends, that's $9600/wk....$38400/month....

The biggest question is: Can it draw enough traffic to at least breakeven?
Even a non profit has to break even....
There is nothing at all wrong with dreaming.....
If you want something to happen, you need to figure out what it will take to make it happen....
Somewhere in the middle of dreams and realities is where all success is found.