I've been following the "Economic Impact of Steam" thread, and that got me to thinking how steam very often has a natural appeal, even to non-enthusiasts who don't completely understand it.

One of the advantages with steam, especially back in the earlier days of preservation, and on some roads still with it now, is how you could accurately recreate so much of the atmosphere of the past. Strasburg is perhaps the premier example, with steam engines, wooden cars (with most having openable windows to let in the sound--and the smoke and cinders, too), and a countryside that those trains are right at home in. Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec qualify as well, as did the East Broad Top, and some trolley museums.

All of these examples could be--and ironically, all were, except for a single photo on the Strasburg--included in Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg's "Mixed Train Daily." All of those roads even then were holdouts of an earlier time--and still had that same atmosphere in the 1960s, and even added to it in the case of the Strasburg (overlooking the loudspeaker announcements and the ghost train whistle!)

But how does one come up with an attractive and authentic venue in the diesel era?

A lot of us--and I would guess much of the general public--associate diesels and passenger service with something like a California Zephyr or a Hiawatha. We're talking streamlined, modern (actually retro today), and fast.

We don't associate diesels with "quaint" and being part of "the good old days," as we do with steam. To authentically have that "streamliner memory" effect essentially requires almost everything you would need for a "Home for Mainline Steam."

So, how do we successfully, attractively, come up with a "look," an "experience" on a railroad with road switchers and former commuter cars running on track good for perhaps 20 mph? How do you do it especially if you don't have a destination like the Grand Canyon as part of the attraction?

The diesel experience, as many of us think of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiNjLHoLuAE

Many first generation diesel were adequately successful and had sufficient longevity that we still had early "diesel immersive experiences" in various locations on the railroads well into the 1970s, totally independent of preservation. Locations that particularly come to mind include the Erie Lackawanna at Marion, Ohio, the Bangor & Aroostook at Northern Maine Junction, the GM&O shops at Bloomington, Illinois, The Rock Island commuter operations in Chicago, and the C&NW Alco operations in South Dakota. There were times that you could walk into those shops and nearly everything present and operational was first generation equipment, active since the 1940s. Many of the enthusiasts still active in the hobby had enough exposure to these operations over a long period of time that the need for re-creating a first generation diesel experience just doesn't seem that urgent.

PC

The Streamliners at Spencer was a great idea and a success. I remember flying down there for the event and I felt like I had died and gone to train heaven. Photo freights, night time photography, excursions with all kinds of motive power pulling it. Not a steam engine in sight either. Was one of my favorite experiences with railroading.

The SP 9010 is mostly complete and will likely be fully operational by the end of the year. It has a pretty good following and that is a locomotive I would fly to another state to see.

I don't remember the numbers of the Pennsylvania E units but they are stunningly beautiful. I know excursions with those locomotives are typically sold out. Should be on everyones bucket list.

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Isn't that one of those 'steam outline' park engines?
:-)

Going right along with the steam thread is my thought that any organization needs to ask what their mission is. If it’s making money, than create either a super tourist friendly / Disney style / family experience (Strasburg, Tweetsie, Grand Canyon of old, Etc.) or a super classy upscale experience (Napa Valley, Grand Canyon of New, Royal Gorge, etc).

If it’s a museum experience then ask the question again... what’s the goal. To just have a train ride to give museum visitors that experience? Or to provide a demonstration of equipment from the area?

Naturally there’s some overlapping... Durango provides about as historic of an experience as you can get, but they are also providing a very tourist oriented experience because they are running for profit.

IRM is a prime example of a musuem running correct equipment. The Zephyr set is a fully immersive experience for example, as is the Bi-level set, as is the steam set, and the various electric interurbans. That’s a very different formula than most operations that just piece random equipment together and call it a train.

Of course.... the early Amtrak era there was a mix of old equipment being used and I’m sure the various railroads needed to mix up rebuilt heavyweights with streamline equipment if needed.

Since we no longer run mainline excursions, one of the things we're considering for a draw during some events is something a little different that you don't usually see elsewhere - a self-propelled demonstration wreck train with B&O X216 250T diesel locomotive crane, C&O W88 idler, B&O X4562 ex-E7C baggage express used for rigging storage.

If I were to pin point a true 'diesel era' its what model railroaders like to call the transition era. Usually that era is chosen by model railroaders because they want an excuse to mix steam and diesel trains on the same layout, but a lot of what was going on in the world is indicative of why of the diesel was so important in the first place.

When I think of that era in history, I see muscle cars parked outside diners, greaser jackets, civil rights movement starting up, war in Korea, the birth of rock and roll, Disneyland, Sputnik, and the constant fear that with the push of a button Earth would become a post-atomic hellscape. Plop an F-Unit or a GP9 into this landscape and it just feels at home. Those old first gen diesels were a part of the modernization movement that had gripped a nation in the beginnings of the space age, steam was old and out, diesels were new and in. It was also the last gasp of life the streamliners had before it would all come apart in the 60's leading to Amtrak in the early 70's.

I am not saying that every museum trying to advertise diesels should tap into some sort of 1950's decade nostalgia, but its not a bad idea. Its an era that rests a lot closer in the American subconsciousness than the golden age of steam honestly does now. Its a decade that started over forty years before I was borne, yet thanks to its influence in American pop culture (Grease, Back to the Future's time travel segment, Fallout video games, anytime I hear an early rock song, etc.) I feel like I could easily step into it in any moment even though I never was alive to actually live it.

I think the R&N/LGSRY does a pretty good job of this out of Jim Thorpe. The secret, I think, is open cars. That's an experience that other modes of recreational transportation can't duplicate.