2100 in action-

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=156270

Any ideas how ridership has been?

NO BUNK please!

Joshua

Very recently I read an account by a fellow who had ridden the train. Generally he regarded the ride a good experience and the photo runby must have been very good. His estimate of ridership on the train he rode to be around 50 people. I am not sure if that is a good average or not. I have been unable to find his post and do not know where else to look so I can not post a link.

Does anybody have a feel for how much publicity the railroad has been able to get out starting in the middle of the season like they have?

With the red stripe on the skirt the 2100 reminds me of 2101 in her Freedom Train paint, at least from the front. Remove the second headlight, ditchlights, and move the number plate to the original position and the look would be very similar.

John Bohon

I see the F40PH lurking in the background. Have they done any runs without the diesel yet? It looks as if the F40PH is in all the shots on their website where you can see the train:

http://www.goldenpacificrr.com/

While its nice to see her in steam, as a Reading Company fan I have to cringe at her appearance. Also,what happened to the compressor covers??

Unfortunatly the ridership so far has been terrible, averaging less than 50 riders per trip. My semi-educated guess is that 50 riders/trip produces about 10% of the revenues needed to truly cover thier out of pocket direct operating costs-never mind a maintenance reserve,depreciation etc.
Seems to me that the punk ridership is the result of;
A. False starts- this outfit has got to hold the world record for undelivered grand openings. I lost count but I believe they announced the begginning of service on dates certain etc. at least 6 times over 2/3 years and nothing happenned so there's some Peter cryed wolf here.
B. Much more importantly the product is not competitive for the discrectionary tourist dollar vs. whats available in that market. $50 to ride 22 miles at slow speed(Class1 track) mostly thru backyards and urban junk, with a diesel in the consist(both for HEP and to help the 2100 on the steep 3.5% grade as she is without her booster) in double deck commuter cars with small tinted windows-you gotta be kidding yourself to think that will sell.
Unless they're willing and able to continue to heavily subsidize the operation they'll have to totally reconfigure the product to make it competetive or just face reality and pack it in.
IMHO- Ross Rowland

Seems to me this would be a lot like a ride on MBTA/MBCR commuter rail except the cars are a lot older and the operating speeds are 50 to 60 MPH slower.

That discussion, along with plenty more info and photos of the 2100, is over at RailroadForums.com

http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=14526

http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/for ... y.php?f=42

It's my understanding that the ridership has been increasing as word gets out about the operation.

I’ve been standing trackside during the first few runs, and I haven’t seen ridership of greater than 60 people on any single run. Most of the local railfans I know (including myself) have yet to ride it. I think most of us would rather chase than ride as you can’t hang out a vestibule or really hear 2100 work as they have a F-40 for HEP on the commuter cars. I plan on dragging my wife to go ride it ASAP, as I’m concerned that low ridership could possibly kill the operation. That’s not an editorial comment, just simple math. I want this to become a destination!
I know they’re advertising, but even though I check the local papers, I haven’t found an ad. I know they had a story in the Tacoma Tribune the day after the first run but that’s about it. None of my co-workers at Dupont (just south of this operation) had any idea of its existence other than through my telling them, and many of them are the kind of folks who know every local anything going on. I don’t think there has been any effort to advertise via radio or TV either but I could be just missing the ads.
Look at the posts on the subject here, plenty of discussion on 2100’s recent outings:
http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/for ... y.php?f=42
GP has a decent website about the operation as well:
http://www.goldenpacificrr.com/
There won’t be any runs without the 40, as they need something for the HEP…

You can do the HEP at vastly lower operating expense with a genset in a baggage car or boxcar, especially for only four passenger coaches. Seems to me the reason for using the F40 has something to do with tractive effort. At 19% adhesion the F40PH maximum tractive effort is just about equal to the total grade resistance of the steam locomotive (with no aux. tender), the F40PH, and the four coaches on a 3.5% grade.

That is the right story but on the wrong forum. Until following your link I had never seen that forum. I am going to have to check it out a little closer when I have some time. Thanks for showing me the link.

John Bohon