Some Goings On at Steamtown

TrainDetainer · **Joined:** Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:05 pm **Posts:** 283

softwerkslex wrote:

Age of Steam is essentially not open to the public.

Being open and receiving visitors is really Steamtown's first priority, not the various locomotive restorations.

Not sure where you're getting that from. According to their website, AOS is open to the public April to November Thursday/Friday/Saturday, with three tours per day.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2025 6:31 pm

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

If “preservation” means we can’t operate historic steam locomotives then I want no part of it and I don’t support it.

You can operate steam locomotives and preserve the "experience. In that fashion, building replicas of British mainline and branchline steam or the PRR T1, or building new locos for a cog railway or the like, remains "preservation."

Just remember that the locos in question are "consumable resources" and not "historic museum artifacts."

softwerkslex · **Posted:** Fri Jun 27, 2025 8:12 am

TrainDetainer wrote:

softwerkslex wrote:

Age of Steam is essentially not open to the public.

Being open and receiving visitors is really Steamtown's first priority, not the various locomotive restorations.

Not sure where you're getting that from. According to their website, AOS is open to the public April to November Thursday/Friday/Saturday, with three tours per day.

Looks good. They charge $20 per ticket for a 90 minute tour. So it is a very different expected visit count and budget. I also don't see facilities for visitors such as parking.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Jun 27, 2025 9:55 am

softwerkslex wrote:

TrainDetainer wrote:

softwerkslex wrote:

Age of Steam is essentially not open to the public.

Being open and receiving visitors is really Steamtown's first priority, not the various locomotive restorations.

Not sure where you're getting that from. According to their website, AOS is open to the public April to November Thursday/Friday/Saturday, with three tours per day.

Looks good. They charge $20 per ticket for a 90 minute tour. So it is a very different expected visit count and budget. I also don't see facilities for visitors such as parking.

There are performers that charge $80-1,000 a ticket and fill arenas for two hours.

It's all about the experience provided.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Jun 27, 2025 9:55 am

softwerkslex wrote:

TrainDetainer wrote:

softwerkslex wrote:

Age of Steam is essentially not open to the public.

Being open and receiving visitors is really Steamtown's first priority, not the various locomotive restorations.

Not sure where you're getting that from. According to their website, AOS is open to the public April to November Thursday/Friday/Saturday, with three tours per day.

Looks good. They charge $20 per ticket for a 90 minute tour. So it is a very different expected visit count and budget. I also don't see facilities for visitors such as parking.

There are performers that charge $80-1,000 a ticket and fill arenas for two hours.

It's all about the experience provided.

bigjim4life · **Posted:** Fri Jun 27, 2025 10:43 am

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

softwerkslex wrote:

Looks good. They charge $20 per ticket for a 90 minute tour. So it is a very different expected visit count and budget. I also don't see facilities for visitors such as parking.

There are performers that charge $80-1,000 a ticket and fill arenas for two hours.

It's all about the experience provided.

So what you're saying is we should get Taylor Swift to perform at Steamtown (benefitting the Iron Horse Society, of course) and they'll have their income tripled from the one event? ;)

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Fri Jun 27, 2025 12:48 pm

I've heard of worse ideas.

NJDixon · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:36 pm **Posts:** 334

The crazy part is, with how devout Taylor Swift fans are, it'd probably work.

mldeets · **Joined:** Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:06 am **Posts:** 386

bigjim4life wrote:

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

Pretty sure steamtown operates steam more than age of steam anyways. So pretty sure they “win” by any metrics if there is some competition

If actively wearing out a preserved asset is your only measure, maybe............

I don't think comparing one (well-funded, privately-owned, great preservation and quality of buildings/grounds are great) vs the other (government-funded, volunteer-run, certain chunks of the collection rusting away - but operates equipment much more often and over much longer distances than just within a "small" yard complex) is something that's fair to do - to both places.

Consider the commenters involved..............mld

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bigjim4life · **Posted:** Sat Jun 28, 2025 12:12 am

NJDixon wrote:

The crazy part is, with how devout Taylor Swift fans are, it'd probably work.

Over the past few years, I've seen quite a few railroads (and other venues) host extremely popular "Swiftie" trains - similar to your average Princess trains, but this time with a Swift "cosplayer" singing her tunes, and the kids love it...

MattJ · **Joined:** Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:19 pm **Posts:** 11

yerkesmz wrote:

Everyone has their opinion on the subject; can we please stick to what’s happening now and what hopefully will happen in the future?

The focus on restoring unpowered rolling stock makes sense - no point in operating steam if you have no coaches to carry passengers! It reminds me of the situation at Allaire/Pine Creek RR in NJ. The volunteer I spoke with online and in person explained that they are focused on their current projects (a second caboose and an additional passenger coach) with the goal of being able to handle larger crowds on peak weekends and thus generate more revenue, with the longer term goal of someday running steam again. They have four steamers that could realistically be restored to operation (Surry, Sussex, & Southampton #26, Chiriqui Land Co. Porter #46, Ely Thomas Lumber Shay #6, and the Irish Cavan and Leitrim Lady Edith #3). But given the current pace of progress, I have to ask the same question that I ask about B&M 3713 - how likely am I to see it in my time on this planet? (I just turned 50.)

Some Goings On at Steamtown

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