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Strasburg Rail Road introduces pinball car
Epic win!
So how would that deaf dumb and blind kid who plays a mean pinball do on here? Couldn’t resist The Who reference…
Pretty cool concept there!
I wonder how the fictional Louise Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) would love this, as would Bart Simpson, The Fonz…
Super ingenious idea!
Somehow, 1980’s video games don’t seem to go with Strasburg’s 19th century passenger trains.
+1, Michael O’Neal. I’ve ridden the SRR twice (as a 6 yo and as a 31 yo - I’m 53 now) and enjoyed it both times, perhaps partly because of a lack of gimmicks (I’ve never been a fan the idea of Santa trains, Easter bunny trains, or mystery trains).
This gimmick basically guarantees that I’ve taken my last Strasburg ride - not that I was salivating to go back anyway.
What would make Strasburg more fun to me was if the Choo Choo barn went back to selling books and vids on the second floor. I stopped there on my way home from Altoona a year ago and the upstairs was chained off. All that was open besides the model railroad display was the magazine and model rr component section on the first floor. The cashier (mgr.?) explained that the upstairs book section had closed a year and a half earlier (which would’ve meant right after Christmas 2012).
Presumably the “Tilt” detector on the machine has been disabled?
@Glyn Williams, the ‘Tilt’ detectors are adjustable, they’re not an On/Off setting, so they could conceivably be set for a higher degree of movement taking into consideration that the machine is on a train.
@John T Laszek…your first sentence clearly makes the case for these additional types of entertainment…the fact that you’re now 53, in order to bring in a younger crowd(which is necessary to sustain operations) you have to think outside the box.
I still side with Michael on this, Gerald. We’ll have to agree to disagree.
Mr. Laszek I think you need to realize that this is one car! They still have the original equipment and will run “gimmick free” trains primarily. If you don’t like this or Santa trains, etc. then don’t ride THOSE trains or don’t get a ticket to the pinball car. Don’t understand why this guarantees your never riding again. It is still the enjoyable experience it has always been.
Additionally, the Choo Choo barn is not associated with the Strasburg RR. It was started by the Groff family and is run by succeeding generations of the same family. So it’s irrelevant to contributing to your last ride on the Strasburg argument.
Honestly, I find it sad that “fun” to you is buying books and DVD’s instead of the simple pleasure of riding on a working, authentic steam railroad. I live approx. 30 miles away and my parents took me frequently, I took my 3 children frequently, and now I’ve taken my 2 1/2 old grandson 3 times already. He doesn’t care about books or videos, he just loves watching the train couple up, hearing the steam hiss and the whistle blow, and stick his head out an open window and watch the scenery go by. I get to share my love of trains with him and it’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. And I’m thankful that here in Pennsylvania I have lots of opportunities to ride and just watch trains, and Strasburg particularly gives my grandson a chance to see a bygone era in which they do a great job making it a fun family experience.
I think you’ve forgotten that being a railfan is about loving real trains and enjoying the rides, not photos or videos. Again, I feel sorry for you that you’ve lost that youthful love of trains. Personally, it helps keep a little bit of kid in me.
My rant was the traditionalist in me speaking. If I owned or successfully ran the SRR, I probably would think outside the box with the Santa and bunny and mystery trains. You gotta do that to survive. 
And looking at the accompanying picture, well, I like the presence of that soccer pinball game (I played one [maybe that same model]) in a bowling alley in my town once or twice. :))
I knew the Choo Choo Barn wasn’t associated with the SSR (thanks for the history lesson) and maybe it’s not relevant to my “last ride” “vow” (which I’m stepping slightly back from [thinking outside the box here]), but to me at least, the CCB is as relevant to the experience of Strasburg, Pennsylvania, railfan haven, as seeing or riding the SRR or the RRMof PA.
But I agree that books and vids are no substitute for riding or watching/photographing a train (I wish I were a shutterbug with a scanner who lived near a major tourist RR [which I never have; my parents and I lived 50 miles from Strasburg when they took me on the SRR when I was 6] or a busy rail route [I grew up a couple of miles from the NEC and some of my jobs until 2007 were close enough to the NEC and the CSX line that I could go do some train watching after work]). And I’ve watched NS trains go by the OWL Museum and VMT in Roanoke.
On my way to Altoona last year I detoured to Point of Rocks to see the historic station there (got there in time to see a CSX freight take the left diverge towards Baltimore). From there I went to Brunswick to see the big yard there and saw the Cap come through on its way to DC. (It was Sunday so I could park at the MARC stations)
I no longer live or work in a place readily convenient to a busy rail line, so books and vids and old issues of Trains, Railpace, Railroad, Railfan and Railroad, etc. bought at my local antique barn sometimes have to suffice (wish they and my local library had a bigger selection of rr books). As does "Trains and Locomotives&
Years ago I remember an old dome car that was equipped the same way at the former Choo Choo HIlton in Chattanooga’s old central station, but with lots of video games. I remember a street car that ran around the complex, and the cars you could stay in instead of a conventional hotel room/ That was quite a place. Anybody know if it still exists?
Mr. O’Neal: I don’t see video games in the picture, I see pinball machines.
Mr. Vaszek: I’d like to point out to you that the Easter Bunny was for three days in April, not every trip all year. The Great Train Robbery is (as far as I can see) a single trip on each of three widely spaced days through the year.
And the Pinball car is just one car in the whole train. If you don’t want to be in that car, fine, don’t pay the extra fare for it. If you don’t want to go for the special events, there are plenty of other times.