Detailing cab rides would be too difficult, there are hundreds of operations out there, many of which give cab rides. The info is hard to find in some cases, and it changes frequently.

I do maintain a list of "engineer experience" programs, as there are a lot less of those. I don't list prices, since I don't have time to watch for updates. But I do check to see if the programs are still active. I just went through yesterday, all of the links should work now, though one of them goes to a page that's currently broken.

http://www.railroaddata.com/rrlinks/Eng ... _Programs/

[quote="whjco"]
Cab ride policy for the steam locomotive, which will be in service soon, has not yet been established.[/quote]

[quote="Wowak"]
How soon is soon? I can't help but notice that the last update to the locomotive restoration pictorial on the website is 9 years old.[/quote]

Go to http://www.bsfsry.com. On the right will be the "K&T 14 Steam Locomotive" section of the web site. Click on "The Next Chapter" link and you'll find updated pictures of the project.

Ah, see I got to the bottom of the first page, and there are the words "the next chapter" there, but they're not a link.

Good to see you've got Steve Lee on your team. I haven't heard from him in a while.

Time to bring this thread back to life for some updates - New Hope & Ivyland used to charge $40 for a 55-minute cab ride. Now, they're charging $75 for a "Basic Package" - which includes a 55-minute cab ride and a "Basic Photo Package" (one 5x7 print) - as well as a "Deluxe Package" - two photo prints, a "Locomotive Engineer Certificate" (custom made), engineer hat and engineer gloves as well. $100 for the "Deluxe" cab ride. I'm not sure whether this is more in line with current prices at other places - but I sure will miss the $40 option.

What about other places? Any updates on prices or new cab ride program offerings at your local tourist/regional railroad?

From current websites....

Durango & Silverton Charges $1,000 for a one way Cab Ride to Silverton, or Roundtrip to Cascades Canyon in Winter. (includes Overalls, Gloves, shirt, hat, and safety glasses.

Great Smoky Mountain Railway charges $199 + train ticket for Diesel, $299 + train ticket for Steam.

Little River Railroad charges $50 for a Cab Ride in #110.

Nevada Northern charges $130 for a Cab Ride in either Steam or Diesel.

Tennessee Valley Railroad charges $10 for Diesel, $20 for Steam (in addition to the $17 ticket price) on the Missionary Ridge Local.

There's a start... more to come I'm sure.

I paid US$350 for a morning session on the footplate of Black Prince (2-10-0) on Llangollen Railway in Wales in 1998.

Wesley

I got a cab ride recently on the Cape Cod Railway and on one in Costa Rica.
My biggest thrill was to be a fireman on an 1898 Porter 0-4-0 that burned wood.

Oregon Pacific RR in Portland, OR, are currently charging $10 for a diesel cab ride, but that appears to be going up to $20 at the end of June.
Hopefully I will be able to indulge in that experience in a few weeks time!

The $1,000.00 tab for a ride at Durango caught my eye. Not meaning to start any hard feelings here, but I wouldn't give them the time of day for a gouge like that. However, a great many of these others mentioned sound to be quite affordable. Just my opinion.

One of the last rides that I had, and it was over 5 yrs. back, resulted from a late evening phone call from a friend in the Pacific NW letting me know that the boss was going to be away for a few days and if I wanted to come up, he'd let me ride on Willamette #2.

I was out the door the next morning and not only got to ride, but ran one entire trip from Elbe to Mineral and back. The cost? Dinner for my buddy, which he would have likely gotten anyway, since I valued his friendship that much.

I've always thought that among those of us who work in the business and share information, parts, etc it should be a reciprocal matter of professional courtesy. For the average foamer, not so much..... and every operation has to determine just what the market will bear in their case. $1000 sounds like an all day hands on engineer experience to me, but $50 would probably have a long line standing at the door waiting for their chance at D&S. Of course, perhaps they would prefer to skim the cream rather than penetrate?

Your point is well enough taken Dave. In many instances, somewhere between those
two figures would be appropriate and fair and the r.r. would still likely get a decent
number of willing participants.

When I was working as engineer on the Klamath & Hoppow Valley RR in Northern CA,
I remember giving rides out just about every day, we were pretty good that way.
Granted, this was 1972 and things were a lot different back then. I even let one guy,
who was a member at Snoqualmie, WA, run out of the station up the hill and he did
pretty darned good for a first time.

I made a lot of friends from steam railways in many countries and a lot of places in the US by sharing. I was generally treated better overseas than here - perhaps a less litigious culture in the UK and Oz. Perhaps a more general openness among their volunteers and staff? Anyhow, I was awakened one morning and told by a guy in grubby overalls at the hotel door that I was booked to fire on a nice light pacific in Australia one day on a railroad I'd never seen before...... found my seating for a mainline steam excursion upgraded behind my back and including a cab ride - and fired a trip on both a coal burning and a wood burning locomotive at an event on another. Most of this was organized by a new friend from Australia I met when he dropped by when I was lighting up early one morning - the late Dan Ranger had called and advised me an Australian steam guy might drop in - and he stayed a week and became one of us, poor bastard. I think we have much to gain by being more inclusive, lawyers and bureaucrats be damned, present company excepted (you know who you are).

The most I ever paid for a Cab Ride at the OLD Edaville or Steamtown in Vermont, was the price of $ 0.00. I did pay my admission onto the grounds, but never paid extra for a cab ride.
I rode the cab on all the CPR Pacific 's at Steamtown, and as for Edaville all I had to do was ask.
The last cab ride I got was at Conway Scenic RR, behind CNR # 7470, again the price was right.

I did some of that back in the 70's, when I was working on the railroad at Cedar Point. I managed to get in the cab at Greenfield Village, Huckleberry, and White Water Valley at some point. I also spent time in the cab of 2101 on the Chessie Steam Special in the W. 3rd. St. yard in Cleveland with Wickersham while they were getting the train together.

I remember the first fire-up of 765 for the NKPT&HS convention in New Haven, IN in Sept. of 1979. I know I was in the cab, but can't remember if it was free or something like $5 while pulling that string of old Swift refers?

The Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City offers cab rides in the regular train runs (about 8 miles, Diesel, usually a GP-30 (UP 844) or an NW-2 (UP 1000, former EMC demonstrator) or occasionally US Army 1855 (FM H-12-44) for $35.00

We offer an Engineer for an hour in the same locomotives plus a GE 80 ton center cab for $250 for about an hour, including two round trips (about 16 miles)

Randy