The website says $850 dollars for a half an hour. That's 28 dollars a minute!

For that kind of money you could probably rent just about anything you could imagine from race cars, sports cars, cranes, bulldozers, airplanes, tanks, boats, etc and with a much longer time. You could also do several engineer for a hour programs with both steam and diesel and have money left over.

This is nothing but greed. I don't care what you say the money is going for. Back around 2004 I did the engineer for a hour on the Pere Marquette, #1225 for $350.00. Barely cracking the throttle, and going back and forth at walking speed on a 1/4 mile of track wasn't very exciting. I hardly felt like a engineer and wouldn't pay that money to do it again.

I think if you are going to get into absurd prices (which for a half and hour you might be in the top ten expensive things to rent vehicle wise at $1700 dollars a hour) you might as well go for the moon. Why stop at $850.00? If you really want that Maserati I would do cab rides at $6,000 and engineer for a hour at $10,000. It's once in a lifetime right? Unless you book it again and again and again.

I don’t understand the vitriol. If you were to add up all the expenses involved to ship, maintain (allow for current and future - do you realize how much it costs for a 1472?), operate, pay labor, consumables, overhead, insurance, cover the “what-ifs”, etc, etc, etc, and have a few bucks to put in the kitty to make it somewhat worthwhile for the owners and hosts, you’ll understand that we aren’t talking peanuts. They ain’t gettin’ fat off this and it make no sense to do all this with no ROI. I’m sure a lot of thought went into setting the price point. If this was cheap and easy to do, everyone would be doing it.

It costs what it costs and nobody is forcing you to buy it.

This year we started doing the "Steam Locomotive Experience" at the J&L Narrow Gauge. For $258 you get a six hour fully immersive experience with our locomotive, starting with pulling her out of the enginehouse, cleaning smokebox and firebox, building the fire, waiting as she builds up pressure then having the opportunity to run the locomotive over our track. This price also includes breakfast. We schedule three people at a time for the Experience, have done three so far and our fourth one will be on Saturday.

With our Experience you get to do things that none of the big boys will let you do, you get to spend a lot more time interacting with the locomotive and at a much more reasonable price. So there are other options out there.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/jandl-58-experience-first-weekend-picture-heavy

Wait, you have a new Maserati? LOL

All kidding aside I believe the price point is reasonable (and no I personally can't afford it) for running that large a locomotive.

As some post here, running and maintaining steam locomotives takes cubic amounts of money.

You are probably not current on the rates to drive a NASCAR vehicle, but here are a few quotes...
Daytona 5 minutes - $484.99
Daytona 8 minutes - $644.96
Daytona 32 minutes - $2014.97
And yes, they have wait lists for the opportunity.

Makes driving N&W 611 look cheap, and very slow!

Bart

I know a couple of people that have participated in the 611 hand on the throttle program at Strasburg and each one had no complaints. There are a number of "immersive" programs that are available that can be selected to fit anyones needs or budget. Believe it or not, it costs a LOT of money to run a railroad particularly one that operates steam. A locomotive like 611 is a big pit that requires lots of money to fill. It's fortunate that the locomotive is made available to those who would help support its operation by "donating" to the program. It certainly is better than having the locomotive around as a static display.

The Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum hosts a rail camp in June each year. It's a four day program and participants get hands on time on two vintage motorcars and a 4-6-0. The cost is just under $2000. Next year's camp has already signed up 6 of the maximum of 8 participants. The interesting part of this is that three of those are people that have previously attended the camp. These programs, while not inexpensive, are fun and great fundraisers to help preserve the historical aspects of railroading.

No, it's running a for-profit business.

I've done the engineer throttle time twice with 611 at Strasburg and enjoyed it each time. Would I have done it twice at this price? No, but would have done it once. I'm not willing to pay this, but if somebody else is then more power to them. If the increased price squashes demand then Strasburg will lower the price in the future (if there is a future).

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There's another factor at play here... opportunity cost.

When a restored asset (like 611) is not run on the mainline (or branch to Paradise, as the case may be), you are losing the revenue that could be generated.
For example (and I'm making these numbers up because I'm being lazy and I don't work for SRR) that a load of 150 passengers paying (on average) $12 per person = $1800 in revenue for a 1hr trip (and I suspect that is WAY LOW). That works out to $900 a half hour.

So to get equivalent revenue out of the asset (611), you have to charge $900 per 1/2 hour.

Or not offer the experience (which many operations choose.) Or possibly only schedule such sessions on non-revenue days.

Or decide the goodwill generated by operating an Engineer for a Hour (or hosting a photo charter, for that matter) is worth the opportunity cost.

Thank you for that analysis!

Wesley

Here's an interesting question for the number-crunchers:

How much coal does N&W 611 burn per round-trip on the RR? And what is Strasburg currently paying per ton?

How much grease, oil, boiler-water additive, etc. is consumed per RT?

It's stuff like this that steers excursion lines away from big locos and down to diminutive 2-6-0's, 2-6-2's, and 0-6-0's and the like.

Coal is the least of it... How about crew costs? Minimum of two men for a full day, plus additional labor to get the engine ready and service it at the end of the day.

In addition, the operation has to carry its share of the overhead, which includes insurance.

And, keep in mind that each day the engine operates is one less day it can operate before it needs another 1472 day teardown. If the last one was 1.5 million (just a guess) better budget 3 million for the next. Let's see, $3,000,000 divided by 1472 is $2038 and change. Seems to me if they don't have at least five people sign up, they may as well cancel it.

A 30 minute _private_ helicopter tour around Baltimore is $1000 ($980+$20 heliport fee). Figure $20 tip to the ground crew who brief you, make sure you don't get hit by the rotor while climbing in and strap you in, and $30 tip to the pilot.

Full service Jet A prices in the area are $7-8 per gallon.

It would cost me more to travel for the Ely experience then the 611 Strasburg experience. Rick's very cool experience will approach the Strasburg experience by time I account for gas, hotel and food.

Bob

611 isn’t a for-profit business though. Yes. Strasburg is.

The Fire Up 611 group has always charged a premium vs. other mainline steam operators. (Not counting UP). That’s a fact.

Nobody is forcing anyone to pay those premium prices so it’s up to them. I think it does make them look a little greedy but I’m also glad I paid the high prices for the 611 experiences I’ve done so far (mainline trips out of Roanoke and Lerro Strasburg charters which are actually very reasonably priced in my opinion).