Steam & Excursion > Day out with Thomas @Strasburg,...Buyer beware

Last weekend, Mrs Pgh Mike and I took PghMunckin and Pittsburgh Peanut out to Strasburg for a "Day Out with Thomas". The whole event was more than a but surreal, with a Twighlightzone-esque kind of feeling...steam engines from the Island of Sodor in the corn, etc.

I was at least smart enough to book the first train of the day on Friday, as I've heard the event can be quite the zoo over the weekend. I have to say that although I was impressed that they had 3 trainsets running (A live steam Thomas train, a train lead by a "dummy" Percy being shoved by the Strasburg Diesel, and the 475 leading the "regular" excursion", I was REALLY disapointed by the value of we received for the Thomas ride and the over commercialism of the whole enterprise. The 4 tickets we got cost just under $100, and all the Thomas train ride did was shove out of the shops a bit over a mile, then reverse back to the shops. People on the Percy trip got an even shorter ride, as that train shoved out behind the Thomas train, and reversed back after barely passing the caboose motel. The whole Thomas ride was over in under 20 minutes and seems designed to squeeze in 2 trips every hour in order to separate as many people from their $$ as possible. Even my 5 year old basically said, "Is that IT???" while giving me a quizzical look. I had incorrectly assumed the trip would go all the way to Leaman Place and back, just like the regular excursion. I'd advise anyone planning to take their kids to this to simply hang out lineside to watch the trains go by and buy a ticket to ride the regular train to Leaman and back to at least get a decent ride, or otherwise just go on a different weekend and avoid the hassle. Fortunately, the day got better as we grabbed lunch with ReqQJon at Katies Kitchen and then went to Dutch Wonderland that afternoon, where the kids had a great time. Mrs PittsburghMike dryly observed that the Dutch Wonderland train around the park was only a slightly shorter trip than we'd had on Thomas. Kudos to Strasburg and the company that runs the whole "Day out with Thomas" travelling roadshow. They obviously make a ton of $$ from the weekend, and good for them, but its certainly not an experience I would repeat with my kids.

Anyways, here's 3 shots for our abbreviated morning after we'd left the shops:
1. The 11AM excursion for Leaman Place pulls out of the siding while the Thomas shuttle simmers on the main, waiting its turn to leave. The giant tent in the right background is filled with a few activities, but mostly serves as a large girft shop in the hopes that you will by all sorts of Thomas gear and toys. Of course, they set up the ingress and egress so that everyone has to pass through, giving them 2 more chances at your $$.
2. Having shoved out a mile from the shops, Thomas now reverses and leads his abbreviated duration excusion back for another load of passengers.
3. The 11AM Excursion pulls back towards Strasburg past the short siding near Cherry Hill Rd.

Thanks for looking all!


 

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Sorry you and the family were disappointed, Pittsburgh.

Out here in California, we has a similar event some years ago on the Santa Cruz, Big Trees, and Pacific with a CF-7 pushing an unpowered Thomas. The train ran a short distance out into the canyon, stopped, and returned-somewhat of a disappointment to the family.

Maybe Sir Topham Hatt's legal team want to limit their liabilities.

DOWT management sets the schedules for the trains and requires departures every 45 minnutes so a 25 minute ride is about all passengers get. The other 20 minures is used for loading and unloading passengers. Frankly, I don't see much value in it, either but it is a freat revenue booster for the museums or railroads that host it.
-JH

Glad you enjoyed Dutch Wonderland. We have season passes for the place, and it is great for a family with young kids.
The train ride around the park is really nice, as is the monorail ride.
Dan

Posted from iPhone

Hey Pittsburgh Mike: 
I can tell you that the company that owns the rights to Thomas and his friends are the ones that make the money.  Strasburg pays a hefty fee for the right to operate those trains and thus you are correct, they try to make a lot of money with these events.  Therefore the trips are very short as you stated.
If you think the Strasburg trips were short, come visit the mismanaged B&O R.R. Museum here in Baltimore and see how short their Thomas ride is and it is like the Percy engine, a dummy pulled by a diesel.  It's all about making money.  It's a shame but that's how it is today in this environment.

John in White Marsh, Maryland

I'm sorry the Day out with Thomas didn't neet expectations.  However, you do have some nice photos.

Your writing style (references to your family members) reminds me of "Munch," one of the the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's restaurant critics.

I would bet the average little guy the Thomas events are designed for do have a short attention span, and would prefer the short ride and then the chance to pry hard earned money out of the parents hands at the merchandise area.

Before we left California, we took our young son to Orange Empire Railroad Museum two years running for the Thomas event.  Huge crowds on Saturday when we went but the ride was great....all the way from the museum to end of track by the Perris train station.  We had a dummy Thomas and the train was pushed by the ATSF FP45.   A great time in every respect and it wasn't particularly expensive, although hitting the gift shop area could add to the bill..lol

We visited Strasburg in 2006 and went on a weekday. I decided to go back on Saturday to get something at the book store, which was a Thomas day. It had rained heavily the night before so large orations of the overflow event parking were soft mud and could not be used. To their credit, they were running shuttle buses to wherever they had paved parking available (various churches). People were extremely upset because they were missing their Thomas Train times. I had to park a few miles away and wait for the bus. The drivers did their best but they took the brunt of it. There were people screaming at the County Constables that were directing traffic at the entrance. I wasnt riding the train, so time was not an issue for me. I watched the Thomas train leave about half empty, while the regular train was almost full. Looked like most of the kids were happy just to see Thomas go by. I am sure everyone that had a ticket got to ride. It looked like Stasburg did pretty good to make the day work as best they could. I got to ride the school bus back by myself to the Menonite church where my car was parked.

I can now say I rode a school bus in Lancaster Co Pennsylvania to a Menonite church, for free.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

I want to stress that the folks at Strasburg were polite and pleasant as could be. I'm Definitely planning to go back, just not on a Thomas weekend when things arent as hectic.

Posted from iPhone

I don't have kids, and so I can't completely understand your pain, but I feel for you!  My wife and I have visited Strasburg many times, and have heard war stories similar to yours.  I agree with the other poster about the length of the trip versus the attention span of a small child.  They might get bored with the full train ride (even on the SRR).  I talked to some people who just opted to ride the regular train instead of Thomas.  After all, when you're inside, you can't even see Thomas and it was a better value for them. 

Glad you enjoyed the Strasburg, and hopefully you can visit it on a less hectic weekend!  If your kids are interested in trains, they might enjoy the freight runs during the week.  It's full of railfans, but if you get there early or have some generous souls onboard, your kids can ride in the cupola.  When I was little and we would visit the EBT, the caboose cupula was the goal!

Sean McCaffery
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/15 19:03 by bigmc83.

Now you know why these trips and days have been dubbed Thomas the Bank Engine.  Last time I witnessed one they were charging for photos with The Fat Controller, SIGH

Here at OERM, we have (I believe) a decade of experience with Thomas. The funds we raise enable us to restore The UP 942, the SF 108, and do many other projects which keeps the museum going. I think one of the reasons that the Strasburg experience may not be satisfactory from the "Thomas point of view" as that they operate their regular trains while operating Thomas. At OERM, Thomas is our regular train. This year with Percy we will be using Middleton siding for a slightly shorter ride. Hit Entertainment specifies at least a 20 ride! It takes many volunteers many hours to set up for the five DOWT event and the resulting dismantling after the event is over. Remember this is an event for the kids!
     We also feature a "Rail Festival" in April or May for rail fans where we operate several trains and streetcars at the same time. It is not considered an event for children but, of course, they are welcome!

Thomas only goes back far enough to clear the track circuit for the gates at Esbenshade Road crossing.  Thomas can't go back to the picnic area to run around the train ... he lacks a front coupler.  ;-)

I always just camped out at Esbenshade Road crossing on Saturday (most Thomas runs), where you could see 30 steam passes during the day.  :-)

I took my grand son to Strasburg on a regular day on an excursion pulled by 475 and he loved it! Was totally facinated by that experiance. About a year later they moved to Iowa the Des Moines area and they had the day out with Thomas come to the Boone tourist rail road. Me and my wife paid for them to go. The kid was totally unimpressed.  Some kids just dont buy into thomas I think..

As far as attention spans go, I think 20 minutes is selling kids short. My oldest is barely 5 but she and her sister have already done WMSRs Santa train twice, the M&H near Harrisburg, and also the Kiski Jct. One of my favorite recent memories was my 2 girls staring out the window in rapt attention on the way back to Cumberland last December. Obviously, every family is different, but mine came away disappointed. Not the end of the world by any means, and my main reason for positing here is to inform others with kids what to expect.

My main gripe with the set up at Strasburg was basically this: if I'd known the Thomas trip was so short, I would have happily paid for the regular excursion and gotten the full ride. The website isn't terribly descriptive about the Thomas excursion or its length, so I made the  obviously erroneous assumption it would be the full trip, which I didn't think was a stretch considering it's only a few miles to Leaman Place (I figured that instead of the run around they might have a loco on each end). I'm glad the Strasburg makes a lot of much needed money out of the deal, but a little better disclosure about what you are getting would seem reasonable. We'll go back some day, but on a non Thomas weekend ;-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/15 22:08 by PittsburghMike.

 I can say that at the NH&I we came to the realization that at the end of the day there was precious little money left after all the hefty commissions/royalties got paid and a Thomas event totally wiped out the entire full time staff and most of the volunteer corp. as well. Just not worth it in the end. Seems to me its perfect for an operation that does very low volumnes the rest of the year and the one big event gives them some operating cash they'd otherwise not be able to generate. Other than that it's a loser. 

   As to the high royalties that's not the worst part...its the folks representing the IP owner who want to tell you how you'll run your railroad that rankled us the most.

   We still do the annual wintertime trains which we ( and most other tourist roads) now call the North Pole Express so as to avoid having to pay that outrageous royalty to call them the " Polar Express"...... and the truth is the public doesn't know the difference.

   Ross Rowland

Thomas has a front coupler that is removed for the event.  As was said previously, the franchisor has a time limit requirement.  THOMAS is done as a push-pull to stay within the requirements set by the franchisor.

ddavies Wrote:
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> Thomas only goes back far enough to clear the
> track circuit for the gates at Esbenshade Road
> crossing.  Thomas can't go back to the picnic
> area to run around the train ... he lacks a front
> coupler.  ;-)
>
> I always just camped out at Esbenshade Road
> crossing on Saturday (most Thomas runs), where you
> could see 30 steam passes during the day.  :-)

ClubCar Wrote:
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> Hey Pittsburgh Mike: 
> I can tell you that the company that owns the
> rights to Thomas and his friends are the ones that
> make the money.  Strasburg pays a hefty fee for
> the right to operate those trains and thus you are
> correct, they try to make a lot of money with
> these events.  Therefore the trips are very short
> as you stated.

> John in White Marsh, Maryland

That is why a lot of Thomas events have stopped happening here in the UK, the company that owns the rights are the ones making the money to the extent it is a loss leader for the tourist lines.

Alexander

6088 Wrote:
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> I would bet the average little guy the Thomas
> events are designed for do have a short attention
> span, and would prefer the short ride and then the
> chance to pry hard earned money out of the parents
> hands at the merchandise area.

 Bingo! We have a winner here..that's exactly what the Thomas People ( who like someone rightfully quoted), dictate the terms and run the show. It's all about the kids folks, and Thomas caters to the little ones...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/15 11:28 by rev66vette.