All DVD’s from the original, standard definition master broadcast tapes.
StSpring intoeam Action
All these are steam in the USA, but lots of great overseas action on our website too!
No. 261 New River Adventure -Milwau- kee Road No. 261 pulls the world-famous New River Trains. Long, narrated cab ride.
The Power of the Milwaukee Road - Initial 261 rebuild, first movements under steam, and eight days of initial excursion runs in 1993 plus a cab ride.
1522 - A Grand Farewell -EXCLUSIVE presentation of Frisco 1522 on its final runs prior to being retired.
1522 - Mountain of the Ozarks -You'll see the 1988 Fond du Lac Wisconsin to Chicago freight break-in runs and first fan trips on several railroads in several states.
Milwaukee Road No. 261 - The Best of the Rest, Vol 1 -Coverage of a number of passenger and freight runs too short to be stand alone programs. Some very unique situations.
No. 261 - Rebuilding a 4-8-4 -The com- plete rebuilding of a huge railroad steam locomotive. $39.95
261 Winter Spectacular -Five full days of steam in the snow in 1996 when MILW #261 visited Scranton, Pennsylvania. Pas- senger and freight train runbys.
3751 - Grand Canyon Special - EXCLUSIVE presentation of our photo charter on the Grand Canyon Railway.
4449 Return to Freedom -If you thought waving the flag was a stirring experience, just wait until you see 4449 rushing up the Columbia River!
4449 Shasta Daylight -This program is a winner! Doyle McCormack, Engineer on the 4449 said, "This is the best 4449 video program I've seen."
Vintage Daylight -A solid Daylight consist roundtrip from Portland to San Jose and mixed consist roundtrip along the Colum- bia River Gorge to Bend, OR.
4449 Winter Daylight -You'll see the billowing steam plumes and hear the booming exhausts that only winter weather can produce!
4960 - Steam Star of the Grand Canyon Railway -five weeks taping this locomotive in action and being restored. Enjoy the sights and sounds of a cab ride, too.
SP&S 700 Homecoming Excursion -If you were to own only one 4-8-4 video, this is the one! Columbia River running from a helicopter plus much, much more.
8444 Down The Deschutes, 4449 Over The Siskiyou -Union Pacific's sleek 4-8- 4 in grey livery and SP 4449 with sema- phores, both in scenic mountain areas.
8444 The Great Steam Trek -Exciting scenes of two beautiful 4-8-4's found nowhere else, including parallel running up Cajon Pass from the air.
America's Articulateds -Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 and N&W Class A No. 1218 from restoration scenes to early mainline running on each railroad.
611 Birmingham Memories -A stunning video tribute to this majestic steam loco- motive focusing on its last fantrips in Dixie prior to retirement in the 1990s.
Hooters on Blue Ridge -The 1950s 16mm Kodachrome camera work of Henry Peterson is combined with his simultane- ous, hi-fi stereo recordings.
Steam Dream - The Ohio Central Story -Here is the story of Jerry Jacobson and his Ohio Central Railroad's steam pro- gram.
TRAINfestival 2004 -The official souvenir video of the 15th Anniversary of the Den- nison Ohio Depot Museum covering all train rides and activities. $24.95
Specials, Extras and Business Car Trains -A variety of contemporary passen- ger trains around America…some public but other rare, private runs not well publi- cized.
Steam on the Wisconsin Central -A sur- vey look at early restored mainline steam operations on the Wisconsin Central showcasing Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003, MILW 4-8-4 #261 and NP 4-6-0 #328. $24.95
All Titles Plus $6.00 S&H
All DVD’s are $29.95 Except
where noted with
www.goodheartvideo.com 973-683-1218
PO Box 591, Convent Station, NJ 07961 Email:
goodheartvideo@gmail.com
12 APRIL 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
www.railfan.com/onthemenu Dinner Trains On the Interweb
MANY READERS NO DOUBT find themselves on one side of this debate or the other: “Is it important to embrace or dismiss social me- dia as a tool to build attendance?” During a recent conversation on same, my
brain, at least, took a break. It pondered how one could demonstrate the impact the inter- net is having on railway heritage museums and excursions. First stop? Recent (2013) compelling findings on the subject from Mandala Research, a leading firm in her- itage tourism market research. They reveal that: 1) More than 75 per cent of heritage travelers use Facebook, and more than 40 per cent use YouTube, to plan trips; 2) Her- itage travelers are three times more likely than personal or business travelers to use a mobile device when traveling to get informa- tion about events, local deals, and recom- mendations on attractions; and 3) Heritage travelers are far more likely than other trav- elers to book tickets using a mobile device, with more than 25 per cent of them doing so using a smart phone and the QR codes found in advertising. I Wonder?: Faced with these statistics, I
found myself wondering how dinner trains fared in this regard. If I was planning — or taking, since today’s travelers often consult the web while en route, looking for interesting and unusual things to do — what would I find if I searched for a rail dining experience. So my attention turned to TripAdvisor
.com. With 260 million unique monthly visi- tors worldwide, and 90 new comments con- tributed every minute, it is reported to be “the world’s largest travel site.” What does the traveling public think of your railway heritage preservation effort? I typed the term “dinner train” in the search box, hit “send” (actually a magnifying glass icon), and the adventure began. First Up, a Mystery: Search results un-
covered 232 dinner trains. How can that be? I’ve never had a list that exceeded 95. Turns out my search yielded all the properties that include the words “dinner” and “train” in their name or description. That includes restaurants, with places like Train Wreck, Runaway Train, Late for the Train, Boxcar, or Ke Li Train Shabu Shabu sneaking onto the list. Plus, the list is international, with entries from some 20 foreign countries found, from Belgium and China to South Africa and Vietnam. Many of the listings had no reviews, only a solicitation from Trip
Advisor.com to submit a review. Finally, some trains (and restaurants) are inexplica- bly listed more than once. However, the trains that appear on the
first page are in the United States, and are well known or long running. They are, in or- der, the Seminole Gulf Railway Murder Mys- tery Dinner Train, the Columbia Star, My Old Kentucky, Cafe Lafayette, Newport, Cincinnati, and Essex Clipper dinner trains, the Charlie Russell Chew Choo, and the Sier- ra Railroad and Old Road dinner trains. On this day the last North American dinner train on the list that had reviews (16 of them) was the Skunk Train in California, a
ride ’n dine. Positioned at No. 38, it fares well with the 16 reviews averaging 4.5 out of a possible 5. In all, 15 American dinner trains have reviews posted. Only one, the Fremont Dinner Train, no longer operates (and so is not one of the 15), but its reincarnation — Kansas Belle—has seven reviews and a re- spectable (for a start-up) 3.5 average. It’s not clear why the Napa Valley Wine Train, with a leading 287 reviews and a 4.5 average, is number 20, midway down the second page. What Can We Learn?: To be objective, I
selected the tenth review of each train list- ed, or the last review if one had fewer than ten reviews, to see what could be learn about the rail dining experience. Here, then, is both the good and bad news, with the names of the operations is omitted (all had both positive and negative reviews): “Worth the money. I like how they space
out the five courses so you have time to relax before the next course.” This train averaged 80 out of 100. “Worst experience ever!” (Reviewer’s em-
phasis) 69 of 100 (Note: This reviewer went on for several paragraphs to detail the disap- pointment. It is common for those with a com- plaint to provide such details, while those who enjoy an experience say little about why.) “Good food and a unique experience. . . . a
good value for everything and (would) rec- ommend it to anyone.” 80 out of 100 And some more: “OMG!!!!!!! We loved this
place!!!” 96 out of 100; “Not what we Expect- ed.” 56 out of 100; “More of a dinner date than a train ride.” 93 out of 100; “Do this din- ner: You won’t regret it.” 84 out of 100; “Long waits —Long drive —very Short on value.” 79 out of 100; “A fun time.” 67 out of 100. Still more: “Had a lot of fun and the mur-
der mystery was a blast.” 76 out of 100; “More than a meal —It’s an experience.” 69 out of 100; “Great ride and meal.” 80 out of 100; “Great memory!” 88 out of 100; “Great fun for couple or family.” 85 out of 100; “Save your money.” 60 out of 100. Of related interest are these results
TripAdvisor.com reports drawing from its numerous annual surveys among users: •62 per cent think it is beneficial that a property allow booking an accommodation via a mobile device. • 76 per cent share travel experiences via social networks. • 64 per cent most often refer to a travel
research site such as TripAdvisor for travel inspiration. Let this data be an encouragement as well
as a warning. The use of technology — the web — and social media — travel sites that solicit user reviews — is here to stay. Fur- ther, its use is growing. Whether you seek a rail-dining experience when you travel, or work with or oversee one as part of your commitment to railway heritage preserva- tion, what travelers experiences is an open book. Do your best. Encourage reviews. Mon- itor and respond to criticism (you can arrange to respond to reviews on TripAdvi-
sor.com). Make adjustments and run again. Business 101, really.
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