I don't know what to think of this special train operated by the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western. It's a special for the US Open Golf Tournament, and so one does expect a "party train," but some of the equipment in this consist looks more like some of the crazier fantasy-humor ideas from Model Railroader back in the 1950s.

Against that, I do appreciate the apparently beautifully restored heavyweight cars, and it's not every day you see what looks like a twin unit diner in service either. An E unit and a matching set of A-B F units in attractive paint are nice, too.

But check out the bar car GE locomotive and caboose! Whooee!!

Oh well, I guess I should be appreciative of the road's imagination for all this, and the execution looks great, too.

Still, for me at least, it takes some getting used to!!

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

Original road number of the AC6000? I may have run it in service.

That would be something fun to consider for any museums or tourist operations looking to boost attendance.

Appears to have been CSX 628 in it's first life.

Hi all
I watched the video,, but you have too admit one thing,, it is different,,especially the bar car locomotive...shows a sense of style.. as does the whose train set..Pat.

You have to remember that, until ten or so years ago, most rail museums and operations in North America didn't even want to acknowledge the mere existence of alcoholic beverages, let alone serving them on the property. Slowly but surely, many of them have been learning from the examples of many British heritage rail operations. The RR Museum of Pa.'s "Rails and Ales" beer festival has become their most popular--and lucrative--annual event.

How does that fit with the mission of the museum? Or is it considered a “fundraising” event?

There was an ex CIE A Class diesel in a bar in Ireland, but that's taking it to a new level!

The bar now appears to be closed, but it's still open as a rail museum....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlerea_Railway_Museum

As they told me not long after they started it, their biggest and most popular. By far. And that was after lower staff and volunteers twisting the arms of Museum management for years, as I was told.

Many of the more "commercial" excursion operations long ago grabbed onto the popularity of beer/wine events, or even "house" wine/beer, including the Strasburg (on their parlor cars), the Verde Canyon (wine/beer festival trains and onboard availability), the Skunk Train (a house brand beer), and of course the Napa Valley Wine Train. Often, such events are partnered with local breweries or wineries. So call it "local outreach" if you will.

It’s listed as a fundraiser event on the website. If I was on the board I would have voted no but that’s just me. That’s why museums have boards and not a supreme leader - have an idea - put it to a vote! Haha.

C-Z, I'll bite...Why not? At a large venue such as the B&O Museum, why not use your facility to your benefit and have special events every month or even every weekend? This sort of programming draws big interest and helps keep the lights on. With events such as these, they're unilaterally popular, drawing a diverse audience and who knows, your next volunteer or donor may become inspired. Sometimes you have to be creative and think out of the box to draw attendees to your museum. Not everyone is a railfan.

My #1 reason, is having a alcohol-themed event opens up the risk of things getting out of hand and causing damage to the property or to the brand. It's not something I would want associated with a museum that generally attracts families, and is a non-profit educational organization.

I regularly purchase insurance for special events (small downtown festivals, art festivals, etc.) and one of the questions asked is "Will alcohol be served at this event?" - if I check yes, the rate goes up. Cause it is an added risk when having an event. I'm not the one who decides if it is served, I just have to check yes or no. haha.

As for special events in general - ideally, the event has a natural tie into the museums' mission. Old Car Festivals are ideal, as well as vintage music and entertainment. The Strasburg Railroad Vintage Baseball game was a good example!

For the time, money, and resources that went into the Beer festival - maybe a better, more on-theme event could have been created? One that would also attract non-railfans, and provide fundraising, but also furthers the mission of the museum.

And yet Amtrak - my former employer who I retired from - is ROUTINELY BLASTED for choosing the cheapest option over spending a bit more to get far more revenue.

I lovingly suggest you meditate on how important it is to get New folks through the gate that leads to your life's work.

If they have never heard of you or have no clue how cool it is to stand next to a fire breathing dragon - they will never hear of the scrapping of your collection.

A professional Booze Server is more than qualified to cut off the folks who have reached their limits.

Brian Helfrich

I'll play devil's advocate here.

I can make a very good argument that old cars, vintage music, and baseball have "nothing to do with the mission" of a railroad museum, either. Ditto bluegrass, Civil War re-enactors (outside of areas that actually saw the Civil War), Santa Claus, "pumpkin trains" and the Easter Bunny. BUT they attract people who otherwise may never come, or only come once in their lifetimes on a school trip. And you simply won't get that kind of crowd by staying completely "within the mission."

Beer has nothing to do with the mission of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore or the Baltimore Animal Rescue Shelter. But their annual Brew at the Zoo and BARCStoberfest craft beer festivals have been their biggest annual fundraisers for a decade or more now. The same is reported at similar zoo beer fests across the nation. And Rail/Real Ale Fests at heritage railways in the U.K. are often their biggest annual fundraisers as well. The B&O Railroad Museum hosts several high-end private events a year with fine cuisine, wine,and fancy dress--inside the Roundhouse full of vintage treasures--and you'd better believe they and/or the hosts have that insurance you worry about. It's built into the charge for the hall for outside rentals.

And guess who the real target market of these fests are? YOUNG PEOPLE. The 21-to-35 demographic we have trouble attracting otherwise. The double-income/no kids crowd.

The "booze means trouble" neo-Prohibitionist/Puritanical attitude of yours is precisely what people at places like the RR Museum of Pa. had to fight for years, and others still fight elsewhere. The reality is that people who are spending $40-60 (on average) for a couple hours of high-end beer sampling are NOT the "Animal House"/Tappa Kegga fraternity kegger crowd trying to get drunk as can be. Furthermore, security can be described as Draconian (at most such events I've seen or been a part of), and the obviously-impaired are quickly removed. The danger that normally drives up event insurance for events like this is someone suing afterwards for allegedly being overserved and then driving and getting into a wreck afterwards.

And you know what? It's pretty damned hard to break a train, no matter how tipsy you are. Especially if you close off the steps to the cabs and windowside platformsfor the event.

One final point: As I recall, at most/all of the RR Museum of Pa. "Ales on Rails" fests, there has been at least one or two rail-themed breweries participating (it used to be West Chester's now-closed Boxcar Brewing; now it's Mifflinburg's Rusty Rail Brewing), as well as Reading Soda Works, which puts a steam locomotive logo on its Reading Draft root beer, sarsaparilla, birch beer, and white birch beer bottles................

It's got my vote, A+ for creativity - It has us talking about it, right? Added bonus, its a unique and original way for 'normies' to be exposed to the world of railway culture. It's different....and I like it.

73
RwC