Iowa Pacific to operate Tulsa - Oklahoma City demonstration service

Trains Magazine Passenger
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So my question for mike is would Pullman journeys be profitable as a stand alone operation. If so why not bring back a daily or even twice a week Panama limited. I think we all know the reason, it would not survive. With that said Pullman journeys is aimed at a small market. My roomette was great but nearly 1000.00 dollars. The people I dined with all were on the the train for the train. They were not simply going from point a to point b. it was a great experience, something I truly enjoyed, but more like a cruise ship than a way to get to Chicago. By the way they operate a train once a week in each direction.

As for the s & nc, try buying a ticket today. It would be cold wait for a train. with that said I am not knocking the operation it sounds great but its a great excursion train that makes intermediate stops. Much like the cuyahoga valley scenic railroad which makes quite a few stops along its journey thur the valley, boarding and detraining passengers and thier bikes. But it too is a great seasonal excursion like train that offers a great experience on a seasonal basis.

What comes closes to a a excursion train that acts like a passenger train is the grand canyon railway. It runs a daily except Christmas and provides a great way to get to the canyon and takes tens of thousands of cars out of the park. They thrived where the at &sf gave up on in 1968.

Hey I am not knocking what they are trying to do and I hope they are successful. I am just pointing out that the company had not taken over any passenger operations that in at least my opinion that are nothing more than excursion type trains.

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Robert Wilson, I presume the Pullman Journey is scheduled at a frequency to match demand. No I would guess that it would not be profitable as a daily stand-alone train, but then, neither is the regular daily train that it is attached to. I’m sure that people take Pullman for the history and ambiance, but if when they get to New Orleans, they get back on a train or plane immediately for return to Chicago, then they are missing a great city. I have never taken Pullman, but I have taken Amtrak’s City of NO, and spent a few days in NOLA. The website’s FAQ said the train was twice a week, but now looking at the Booking options, it appears they have cut back to once a week.

On the S&NC, I myself took the train as an excursion (as did most people) but there were a token number of people getting on an off at intermediate points, plus that summer (2012) I was there, they scheduled an early train from NC to Saratoga, and return in the evening for locals gong to Saratoga, or connecting with Amtrak. While it might be a minor (and maybe not even profitable) part of that whole operation, it shows that they have operated some trains primarily for transportation.

Looking at the article, and knowing how Iowa Pacific operates, I suspect the Tulsa/OKC trains will have some aspects of both regular and excursion trains to capture both markets.

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I agree mike, I never taken the s & nc, maybe this summer. I strongly recommend Pullman. Such a throw back to by gone era . where else can you book a section. I hope the Tulsa train works out just as well.