Something that has not been said yet is who owns the railroad; I think a tourist railroad is one which is trying at least to make money forr the owner.

On the other had, a heritage railroad is usually part of a museum which is a non-profit organization. I give my money to non-profit museums that also run railroads.
I am glad to hear from people who enjoy riding out streetcars and Interurbans.

Ted Miles Western Railway Museum (retired)

Yeah, I'll give your "noes" a pass. I don't think any WM locomotives were available. They are doing good with what they have.

That’s for profit / non-profit status. Either can provide a “heritage” or “tourist” feel in my opinion.

I can't believe I have to write about this again, but oh well.

There is no such thing as a "non-profit", despite the susceptibility of the public to charity gaslighting that some how such an organization is worthy of support because they are "kinder and gentler" and indifferent to the bottom line. Any enterprise that is run that way is a bankruptcy in training, so it's a lie.

The phrase originates from the idea of not being for individual profit; which has three basic parts:

It has an allowable exempt purpose.
It doesn't return profits as dividends to shareholders
Upon dissolution, the assets aren't distributed to individuals.

See this phrase: in Sec 501(c)(3)


no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual,

(inure means to be to the advantage of)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/501

If the organization meets these sorts of tests and is operating in conformity with others, including the requirements imposed by the state and federal governments, it is a tax-exempt charity.

Even if all that is true, the organization can engage in commercial, activities unrelated to its exempt purpose activities to a degree. If for example, a TE heritage railroad had a "side hustle" delivering freight to an online customer, that is an "unrelated business" and its profits on that activity would be subject to "Unrelated Business Income Tax" or UBIT.  

You should not assume that "non-profit" means more efficient, noble or humane. Anything run by human beings is subject to human moral failings. Some TE's are well run, some are run by well-meaning, but inept folks, some are run in echo chambers and others are run by people who are handsomely rewarded for their efforts, often for contrived positions-others are thinly veiled grifts.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/ch ... heir-taxes

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.117 ... 0221129541

My favorite in the "handsomely rewarded" category is the Girl Scouts, which uses an army of little girls (and their parents at work) to solicit over-priced cookies. Hey, what could go wrong teaching young girls to sell something to strangers so somebody else can make mega-money, right?

The result? The national organization has twelve (12) people who made in excess of $250K last year, and two (2) made in excess of $600K. There's both a CFO and a "chief revenue officer". And they all report back-breaking 35 hour work weeks.

https://www.girlscouts.org/content/dam/ ... 202024.pdf

If someone wants to compromise between the inherent safety provided by constant radio communications and the "authentic look and feel" of old-time railroad operations, there IS a compromise.........

There is someone out there in rail preservation operations in the western U.S. who now has a fully modern railroad radio rig with Bluetooth transmitting to his cochlear implants.......

I'm not necessarily recommending cochlear implants for your crew--heck, *I* don't have one yet, and I'm told I qualify.

BUT there ARE earphones, earclips, ear plugs, "dongles," and the like out there for Bluetooth from "smartphones" and other transmitting devices. This would eliminate the "blaring radios" being complained about earlier in this thread............. jes' sayin'.......

Hopefully just one more comment on radios....
When we ran excursions, we used up to three channels - car hosts (in uniform, btw), operating/mechanical crews and one spare in case one of the other channels was getting interference.

With the car hosts their own channel, they weren't having to deal with the chatter from the operating side. Speaker mikes were clipped to their jackets up by their ear with the volume low enough not to be annoying to others. If every thing ran smooth as usual, the car hosts had very little chatter. If there was a problem, switch to the ops/mech channel to let us know what was going on.

Bingo! I can speak from experience that Fort Wayne does this EXTREMELY well.

Look to that, ADM. The bluetooth shenanigans with this western outfit you speak of may be a bit too technologically advanced, at least for me personally.