That might be overstating the case a bit. The pressure on the Amish is actually coming from within - population has tripled in the last two generations. The amount of land to farm has essentially remained the same, so either plot sizes become too small to support a family, or purchase/rent prices make the numbers unworkable. So young men are faced with becoming apprentices in non-farm jobs, or moving somewhere that land is cheaper.

In the 20 years I've been visiting around Strasburg, the big changes have been on US 30 west of PA 896. I haven't seen any encroachment onto farmland within sight of the railroad (the corn maze excepted).

I have occasionally read local news reports of the county's zoning board - they actually get it now, and programs seem to be in place for the purchase of development rights, etc., to keep agricultural land in production. US 30 won't ever be a pastoral idyll, but get off onto the back roads and the experience is still pretty rural.

Let's hope it stays that way.

JAC

At National Capital Trolley Museum our 20,000 average annual visitors show up in regional tourism attendance reports and have helped push the County's tourism attendance statistic to number two in the State of Maryland, behind Ocean City and ahead of Baltimore! Given our comparitively low revenue counts and small payroll, our economic impact on the region's economy is minor compared with larger enterprises.

I think it is fair to say we compete locally with the Chance and Crown park trains (there are several within 15-20 miles), plus other local attractions for children. We are a short duration visit /activity: 2 hrs vs. 1/2 to all day for a trip downtown to the Smithsonian or to Baltimore for the B&O Museum.

On the other hand, I count the Smithsonian as our competition in terms of that institution's impact on the expectations of our visitors. They look for hands-on interactive displays. The term "infotainment" comes to mind. We have responded with a self contained Powerpoint show, an interactive computer display based on a product from the Minnesota Transportation Museum, and an operating O-gauge trolley layout. I compare our display room with a "busy box".

Wesley Paulson
National Capital Trolley Museum
www.dctrolley.org

Tom-
I think its a bit humorous we get thrown in there --- seems like I'm always having us referred to as a "Marine Museum"; kind of nice to be finally recognized for something else ;- )
I think its safe to say that in all cases, as much as yours truly has tried, our "rail" section is not the "main" draw, but is part of larger themes: be it Edison's boyhood with the TEDM museum and combine, or say, the local business history with the D.B. Harrington and local history display, etc. We do, on average, about 15,000 at each of our satellites; The Huron Lightship is usually edges the TEDM a bit, around 16,000 this year. While those numbers probably don't do much for a Strasburg or "The Henry Ford", there pretty respectable for us --- The Bramble did about 7,000 last year, but since that opened in June, I'll argue that its not really a fair to make a judgement on it until its get a full season in. Overall, we number around 50,000 visits, give or take. Whether the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse throws that into a tailspan, well, that's left to be seen............
This being said, I say we do a fair bit for the local economy hear in the "Thumb". The bigger issue as late has been the competition among local non-profits for the donation; it, as I'm sure its just about everywhere, is getting pretty tough out there, and there are more and more groups competiting for fewer and fewer sources.


TJG
a.k.a "the rail buff working at the marine museum"