Hello All...

Took advantage of the four day weekend to visit some tourist railroads and museums in PA & NJ and had a great time overall, but a few things hit me as troublesome. Not to insult or target any one place, so I won't mention any names, but there's a few things that should be given attention overall in this industry. Some constructive notes if you will...

On “Black Friday” I met up with some other railroad buddies at a very well known and established tourist railroad in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Not Strasburg by the way...). Had a great time, steam engine running, friendly staff (in fact a few friends work there), clean coaches.

One thing bothered me though... While waiting for my friends to arrive I had occasion to use the restrooms. I can honestly say it was a horrible experience. One stall, so small you couldn't close the door behind you. Warped floor, cracked sink with missing handles. Oh and the toilet didn't work and the whole place looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the first President Bush was in office. Now don't get me wrong. A place doesn't have to have the stainless steel castle/restrooms like at Steamtown, but a little cleanliness and basic amenities should be provided. Especially since there were not functioning bathrooms on the train.

Now I gladly paid $15.00 to ride the train and was even ok with the additional $10.00 the railroad charged me to park, since the town is notorious for is parking problems. From what I hear this railroad parks about 200 cars a day at that rate. Most railroads don't have this supplemental income. Just taking the fees from one day's parking down to the local Home Depot would solve the restroom problem, even if they still only had one stall per gender. I might have even expected these conditions in some backwoods depot a railroad club had open on the third Saturday of every month, but this is an operation that had been in business for over three decades. After this experience I stood on the depot platform outside for a while and heard many people remark about the same circumstances. I'm sure that I'll forgive this transgression and be back to visit again in the future, but will the average tourist? I think the bottom line is this: The average visitor will not care how much money you're putting into that 4-8-4 'back in the shop' if the restrooms aren't at least somewhat hospitable.

On to my next point...

On Saturday I had the chance to visit the site of my first steam train ride at age 3, a small operation in New Jersey. Now from discussions here and elsewhere I knew their steam engines haven't operated for several years, but I went anyway. I bought a ticket (didn't ride, but the money goes to a good cause). There were decent crowds there, but for some reason, the gift shop was closed. In my trips to these different places I tend to drop money buying for others, pins/postcards/magnets/books and whatnot. Now I average about $25.00 per gift shop, it seems that some organizations overlook this source of income. While there seemed to be plenty of volunteers about, the gift shop was shuttered. How much money did they miss out on that day, $100? $1000? Seems a shame when you're trying to get a steamer running again...

Which brings me to my third point...

Even tough I knew this organization's steam power hadn't run in a few years, an advertisement on the website encouraged me to visit Santa on the steam train. Their steam restoration page spoke of a completion date of 2002. I wasn't disappointed, but how many other people were? A website can be easily updated and like it or not, in this day in age is the primary point of contact for a great deal of visitors. It should be kept up to date, at least yearly if not monthly.

Continuing with this thought... I made a trip up the G.S. Parkway to a third museum. I looked at their website, which is fantastic. It delves into the history of their museum, the tourist railroad that preceded it and the local shortline. A great deal of info was presented about the upcoming Santa excursions the museum was sponsoring (the museum does not operate regular excursions) but no info could be found on the actual museum hours. I suspected the place would be closed and it was, it is a small operation after all. However one would think on a website, the hours of operation for your primary museum should be posted.

Now this isn't griping on my part really, I had an enjoyable weekend, but I figured I'd make mention of these things. How is your organization doing in these areas?

In conclusion:

1. People want reasonably clean facilities, not broken down, disgusting restrooms. This might make more of an impact than the ride itself.

2. Don't overlook your gift shop as a source of income, especially with the holidays approaching.

3. A website may actually be your #1 source of advertising and information dissemination. Keep it at least current to the year and be sure and have the basics like hours of operation on it.

Hope this is constructive for some. Food for thought at least.

Dave Crosby



bing@epix.net

> One thing bothered me though... While
> waiting for my friends to arrive I had
> occasion to use the restrooms. I can
> honestly say it was a horrible experience.
> One stall, so small you couldn't close the
> door behind you. Warped floor, cracked sink
> with missing handles. Oh and the toilet
> didn't work and the whole place looked like
> it hadn't been cleaned since the first
> President Bush was in office. Now don't get
> me wrong. A place doesn't have to have the
> stainless steel castle/restrooms like at
> Steamtown, but a little cleanliness and
> basic amenities should be provided.
> Especially since there were not functioning
> bathrooms on the train.

From your other comments I'm going to guess this tourist railroad is in a town that has "no hope." :o) I've got a pretty good idea of where the other two outfits are, too.

> Now this isn't griping on my part really, I
> had an enjoyable weekend, but I figured I'd
> make mention of these things. How is your
> organization doing in these areas?

It's tough to get volunteers to clean ANYTHING. That said, I believe the mentioned tourist line is a for-profit operation. We're always harping on cleaning the bathrooms down here. At least it gets done (if not quite as often as it really should), and if something in there breaks, we fix it ASAP. The thing we have more trouble with is getting people to clean the train. We gave up on punching tickets because of the confetti from the punches -- nobody wanted to sweep it up so it tended to accumulate over the season.



mconrad@msmgmt.com

I'm guessing you are talking about the Whippany museum here. A while back the website was a bit more clear about the hours of operation. It was Sundays only, but they had a fall off of visitors and many that did show up would not even cough up a $1.00 suggested donation. So they decided to close except for excursion weekends. Maybe this has changed since the fall excursions started. A few months ago the site made it clear the museum was "regrouping" and deciding how to best operate.

> Continuing with this thought... I made a
> trip up the G.S. Parkway to a third museum.
> I looked at their website, which is
> fantastic. It delves into the history of
> their museum, the tourist railroad that
> preceded it and the local shortline. A great
> deal of info was presented about the
> upcoming Santa excursions the museum was
> sponsoring (the museum does not operate
> regular excursions) but no info could be
> found on the actual museum hours. I
> suspected the place would be closed and it
> was, it is a small operation after all.
> However one would think on a website, the
> hours of operation for your primary museum
> should be posted.

> In conclusion:

> 1. People want reasonably clean facilities,
> not broken down, disgusting restrooms. This
> might make more of an impact than the ride
> itself.

Paying attention to basic amenities is very important and a little over a year ago, IRM opened a new area that included new restrooms - several 'spots' for both genders, clean up to date fixtures, hot water (!!) and even baby changing stations. You would not believe the positive feedback from the public. Keeping them fit to be occupied is also important and even though it costs money we contract with a local maintenance/janitorial service (does any one have members who enjoy this task?) and on very busy days this includes touchups or mid day cleanings also. JUST DO IT.

Bob Kutella


68trolley@comcast.net

What's up with that 4-8-4 in the backshop? Been there forever. Is there new hope or no hope it will run?


bas1210@comcast.net

Go on back to the briefs for October 27, 2003, and see what we did at RMNE. This was considered important enough to spend 100,000 scarce dollars on. We have a member who does the cleaning, and all of us keep an eye on the places during operating days-- making sure the paper supplies are stocked, trash emptied, etc. It's really not that hard to do, and while it's not anyone's favorite thing to do, it shouldn't be "beneath" anyone to help keep the place clean.

hpincus@mindspring.com

Hello All

Just wanted to add that I have nothing but respect for the places I visited over the weekend. It takes lot of hard work to keep something going, even the smallest of operations takes a herculean amount of work.

I plan to go back to each one as I tend to visit once a year at least, and I surely recomend them to my travelling friends. I did just want to point out a few things that the "average joe" might come away noticing.

Dave Crosby

bing@epix.net

> I plan to go back to each one as I tend to
> visit once a year at least, and I surely
> recomend them to my travelling friends. I
> did just want to point out a few things that
> the "average joe" might come away
> noticing.

We all need to take the time and view our places as the "average Joe" would view them. Listen to the visitors, bring out that cousin that is only so-so interested in trains, do what you have to to find out what the "average Joe" thinks about your place.

And remember that it is often the wife that decides if there will be return visit. Have clean restrooms, changing stations, hard surface walkways that are stroller friendly -- these will all help. And along the way you will make the place better for everyone.

Brian Norden

The comfort coach is OUTSTANDING!!!

Congratulations on the structure that looks like a coach.

At the Whitewater Valley RR in Connersville, IN, a new depot was constructed in downtown Connersville with new 'facilities' included. It is hard to imagine what our public perception would be in today's world if we still used the old shop building as our station. It served the organization well, but today is definitely a different environment.

hillmans@cinternet.net

> We all need to take the time and view our
> places as the "average Joe" would
> view them. Listen to the visitors, bring out
> that cousin that is only so-so interested in
> trains, do what you have to to find out what
> the "average Joe" thinks about
> your place.

> And remember that it is often the wife that
> decides if there will be return visit. Have
> clean restrooms, changing stations, hard
> surface walkways that are stroller friendly
> -- these will all help. And along the way
> you will make the place better for everyone.

> Brian Norden

Oh, how true, how true!!!

Get some of the wives, girlfriends, etc. of the guys at your place to take a real, unvarnished look at the facility and the over-all visitor experience. I recall the statistic that over 60% of the trip plans (to come to places like ours) are made by the moms.

And, thanks, Phillman, for the kind comments about the CC. If you're ever in Connecticut, come on over to Thomaston and "set a spell", as Granny used to say on the "Beverly Hillbillies".


hpincus@mindspring.com