Iterested in some opinions on organizing school charters:

When putting together school trips, what is a good price to charge per student? Or do you recommend a special daily rate involving several trips?

What is a good trip length (time)?

What is a good age range? I figure any kids past 5th grade probably could care less.

Thanks in advance for any input.

At the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, we've been doing them for many years. Here's the web site for info:

http://www.sdrm.org/events/school/

Try it, you'll like it.

Orange Empire Railway Museum has its charter information available on its website. See Orange Empire Railway Museum - Charter Program

Most of the school groups seem to be from pre-school through about 2nd or 3rd grade. At that age they are attentive to direction, etc.; older than that the kids tend to want to do their own thing. Occasionally we have had an older group.

We would like to figure out some way of working a program that would work into either the 4th grade California History program or the 5th grade US history program.

Seems we get more school group charters toward the end of the school year.

We have a school program that has ben running successfully for 8 years.

http://www.dctrolley.org/school.htm

We charge the regular fare for this service. Groups are booked in advance. Effective in the Fall we will charge a program fee of $25 per group for the auditorium activity (story, etc.). This fee is payable in advance. We added the fee in an effort to discourage no-shows and recover costs of our paid education staff.

Participants ages range from pre-school through 3rd grade. Our busy season is in the spring for public school groups. The fall season attracts mostly pre-schools and day care centers.

I believe having a person with classroom experience involved in managing and presenting the program is important. They know how to manage groups of children. Hiring such a person greatly improved the success of our program.

Wesley

Almost half of SCRM's income is from school charters. We have a standard discount schedule based on the size of the group. I don't remember exactly what the discounts are. You might call our Charter Coordinator, Howard Shepherd, at 803-796-8540 for more info. His number's also on our website at http://www.scrm.org.

Before we opened the railroad all the way to Rion Quarry (5 mi), a few PPDs (Paranoid Prophets of Doom) said we needed to cut school charters short at Greenbrier (3 mi) because the kids wouldn't sit still, would have to go to da bafroom, etc. Our charter crews started running to Rion Quarry anyway and so far we haven't had any potty emergencies or anything like that. Kids only get antsy when they get bored -- keep 'em entertained and they can go without a bathroom for a very long time.

The age range will surprise you. Even kids well into their teens get into the train ride. Some of them cop the snooty teen attitude, but very few seem to misbehave. Again, if it's interesting, entertaining, and not condescending, they'll open up.

One thing I've noticed with most of our school groups is that they aren't really interested in the exhbits. Some are, but most are under pressure to get the busses back in time for them to start their afternoon routes. So it's important to use the time on board the train to maximum advantage. That's an area our school trips could improve, but an awful lot of schools keep coming back year after year so we must be getting it at least mostly right!

The New Hope Valley Railway in Bonsal, NC charges the regular fare for groups ($8 for adults and $6 for children) with a minimum of $50 per group. The train makes a normal trip to the end of our line and back. Group rides are done on the third Friday of each month, and groups are required to register in advance for the train. This keeps the groups out of the crowds on our regular public operating days, and being a weekday, is easier to schedule for most school field trips.

Age range really does not enter into your part of it as long as you just allow the schools to bring any class they wish, a good policy on your part. Why limit this at all? Some childrent (notably those growing into railfans like us) will be interested regardless of their age.

Lastly, why limit this to school groups? The simple way to handle things is just to say "groups," and leave the school part out. We get almost as many senior citizen groups as we do from the local schools, so there is another market for you.

The Wilmington & Western has been running School Trips for I believe almost 35 years now. Their trips are about 45 minutes in length.

When the full line was open, they would run the trips from Greenbank to the Spring Valley/Barley Mill Stables area and then back to Greenbank and on to the interchange.

You could prolly contact them and ask some of your questions.

School Charters are great. It is a program that is slowly developing here at the Nevada Northern. Our charter prices are $5 per student and $10 per adult. What I have found is that the program needs to be more than just a train ride.

I try to incorporate the history of railroading. A short section on standard time, comparing horse travel to taking a train (stressing that before the iron horse that the fastest a person could go was as fast as a horse could gallop.) I try to include some science. I was out watching one of our steam locomotives coming into the depot and I noticed that I could see the steam from the whistle before I could hear the whistle. Of course that is the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound.

I’m working on a package for schools that illustrates the history and science of railroading. As I write this, I realize that the time to get this out into the hands of the teachers is in the next couple of weeks.

Considering that we are 240 miles from major population centers, last May we had six school charters. We also had a school combine a walking tour with the Polar Express train in December.

What I have found is, do not lecture to the students but engage them. Quiz them. Seek out their solutions to problems.

One quick fun story. Our first out of town school group was 120 fourth graders. I was a little nervous. I loaded the kids first in groups of 40, after I had taken them to the steam locomotive and explained it to them. Then the regular passengers were loaded. I don’t know what the kids were told but not one of them left their seats. And this was on a 90 minute excursion. About 30 minutes before we got back to the station, I had the brakeman give every student a copy of our newsletter Ghost Tracks. As we were pulling into the station the principle asked if we could do a group picture by the steam locomotive. I said yes.

Once in the station, I unloaded the passengers first and then the kids. As the kids were going to the locomotive, the brakeman said that he was going to “clean up” the cars from the discarded Ghost Tracks.

We got all of the kids, parents and teachers up by the locomotive. Pictures were taken and then one of the kids asked me if I would autograph his copy of Ghost Tracks. With out a thought, I said yes. As I was signing his Ghost Tracks another kid asked if I would sign his, again I said yes. Well this then spread like wildfire. And I was like a rock star besieged with fans. As this was going on the head brakeman stick his head out of the locomotive to see what was going on.

You guessed it he was asked for his autograph. The fireman wandered over and was sucked in along with the engineer. We had a production line going and we signed over one hundred copies of Ghost Tracks. And boy, we did feel like Rock Stars.

Meanwhile, the rear brakeman went through the train and could only find two copies of Ghost Tracks that had been left behind. It was a great day for the kids and us, so yes by all means invite the schools.

Hearsay heard at the Branford Electric Rwy., operated by the Shore Line Trolley Museum:
One difference between school and regular charters is that transportation is often by school bus, in the busses' idle time. Thus, there often isn't much time to think about a tour of equipment or exhibits.
We get a lot of young school charters for weekday Santa rides and visits. I often take the back half of the line on a short tour while the front half is visiting. I keep the speech much simpler than for adults, "If you grandmother was growing up in Brooklyn in 1899, here's how she rode to school. Stamp on the button to ring the bell, then let your classmates have a turn."
Once, I had the inmates and warders from the modern replacement for the juvenile home for the insane. I did take them on a short, simpler tour, mostly, "This trolley came from Brooklyn, that red one from Toronto". Of course, the kids weren't supposed to understand any of this, but a couple of them picked up on one or 2 words, and the adults were paying attention. Next year, the State Hospital Employees' Association chartered a car!
I don't think that our charter and Group rates make any discrimination in price because of the source of the passengers.

Our Museum differentiates between school groups and charters. School groups received an age specific program on scheduled dates. A charter may purchase a single car trip at a slightly discounted rate (frequently a birthday party or motor coach tour) during operating hours, or rent the entire place after hours for a private party.

Wesley

Mark,

Your story reminded me of the time we had 70 children walk from a local elementary school to see the Morehead and North Fork Railroad in 1993.

I had pulled out the Baldwin RS-12 but left the the 0-6-0 in the engine house. I demonstrated the Sheffield 40-B motor car and told them all about the "big engine". I explained to them that the engine was a diesel electric and that it had 600 volts going to the motors on the wheels.

I also let the kids get in the cab and blow the horn. I later let them ring the bell on the steam engine.

A few weeks later, I was handed a bundle of note book paper and on each sheet was a thank you note for the tour. Most of them were very nice but the one of them that sticks out to me was the one thanking me for showing them the "Electric Steam Engine that ran on 600 volts"

I still have that letter in my collection. I appreciated the effort that they made to thank me.

Take care,

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian