While I’m sure that we’d all like to see a scenic tourist line over the old Saluda Grade I think common sense would tell us ALL how prohibitively expensive that would be given the normal operating issues that exist on the Grade…in addition to the current condition of it and what would have to be spent to bring it back to a place of safe operation…It’s just NOT gonna happen. HOWEVER…that line that runs between Hendersonville and Brevard would be PERFECT. You could start it at the old iconic Hendersonville Depot (which is both functional and beautifully restored already) and end it in Brevard at some to-be-constructed purpose-built tourist Depot to be built. It would probably be necessary to construct either a wye at both ends or install turntables…but the cost would be a veritable drop in the bucket in comparison with anything you would figure involving the Grade. The land and communities that surround the Hendersonville to Brevard line are also very scenic and beautiful…(not to mention that it would be far easier and less expensive to operate and maintain) Hey…it is western North Carolina! Add a Steam Locomotive…and there ya go!..I’ll be there to by the 1st ticket! I’m only suggesting this cause NS wants to sell this line. I think we can effectively forget about the Saluda Grade. (much as I hate to say that!) God Bless all’a ya’ll!
We get asked all the time about running steam - we can’t afford it. It’s not an inexpensive consideration.
You say you’ll be first in line to buy a ticket. How about next year? And the year after? Would you be willing to become a volunteer on the line? Put in a hundred hours or two a year?
We carried over 60,000 the first year, running an 8 mile round trip, push-pull.
These days we’re closer to 20,000 a year. We’re breaking even, but not much more.
What’s your population look like? Railfans coming from a distance is a limited audience, not enough to keep such an operation afloat. How many people live within an hour or two drive? What else is there in the area to draw people in? What can you offer to make it “more than just a train ride?”
Such an operation is not a lark - it involves substantial investments of funds and time.
If someone goes in without a view to the long term, there won’t be one.
Tree: Although this poster is skeptical the Ashville area does have many attractions. It has always been a very summer time draw. The other times of the year ? ! A very good gold course 2. Biltmore house 3. Blue ridge parkway with Mount Mitchell on it. 4. GSM rr out of Dillsboro and if they got the maybe for lease lines ?? 5. Several semi exclusive summer resorts that were once served by the Brevard line and its extension.
Not knowing the area, my questions were more rhetorical than anything else. Still - without a good draw and a decent population base to pull from, after a while you run out of people who just want to ride the train on that “new tourist line.”
We pull folks in from about a 120 mile radius for our “Polar Express” trains, and have similar representation on the rest of our trips. Without the draw of PE, however, our season would be over once the leaves were gone in the fall (and those trips are our second biggest draw).
Do they think another railroad can bring freight back on this line I followed this line from Hendersonville to Brevard when the paper mill was running and looking on Google maps the mill is gone now what other industry might locate on this line and if a tourist railroad will ever take it over I will buy a ticket also and Hendersonville is only a two hour drive from my town.
There has been more support for rails-to-trails: Ecusta Trail
The line is abandoned (not out-of-service, abandoned) beyond the former Ecusta plant at Pisgah Forest and Brevard is not accessible by rail. Riders would get off the train next to a school and small industrial park.
I support the idea of what a tourist railroad can do. But it has to have a purpose and a reason. A tourist train is not and cannot be the attraction. Railfans think it is but no it has to be a real oddball steam locomotive, a unique geographical venue, a significantly historical location (not just the last railroad station in town or the end or middle of a once prosperous railroad), have another unique tourist attraction like a theme park, natural park, shopping center, something else which makes people come to the area. Then, you have to have a theme for the ride itself based on uniqueness, length of ride in time and distance, ride price, equipment being used, nearness of several million people in a one, two, three hour radius. Most likely it won’t be a destination venue but part of much more. It may be a cute idea but is it marketable and sustainable.