Steam & Excursion > Golden Pacific Review - 08-19-2006

Today Jason Hill and myself took advantage of a beautiful day to go and check out the Reading 2100. We followed the 2100 from the Tacoma Rail Yard to Freighthouse Square South parking lot were they boarded the passengers.

We got underway at 10:45am and gingerly made our way up the hill. To answer my own question in regards to the windows and if they cause any problems with viewing. Yes and no. Yes, it does indeed hamper the view of the outside world to some degree but no it isn't enough that you can not see at all. Drinks were also onboard in various kind, soda, apple juice, orange juice, grape juice, etc.

Besides some very minor issues we pointed out as we walked through the train, it was indeed a very pleasant journey up the line to Fredrickson.

As we arrived at Fredrickson and deboarded the train for food and to look over the 2100, the vibe around the train was very enjoyable and pleasant, there was about 30 passengers including ourselfs and will do another count tomorrow as we are chasing the train this time around.

The catering company was excellent, the choice for food today was Beef Bristic (sp) and Baked Salmon that was very well prepared. Also on the menu was tater salad and salad with various dressings. I personally was stuffed to the brim. I think the only real surprise to everybody when the 2100's safety's went off.

The group photo and photo run-by was very well set-up and well prepared. The group photo consisted of a good chunk of the passengers along with Tom Payne. The train then backed up almost a mile then made it's approach back to picnic area. Tom made a very impressive show when he opened the 2100 up. The stories of the ground shaking, thundering sound is very much true, it really got your heart racing, my only gripe is that the F40PH was back running in HEP so couldn't totally hear the locomotive working hard. After a appaluse from the crowd, the 2100 spotted the coaches for loading and the return trip to Tacoma.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, very pleasant and enjoyable. A lot of familair faces and very friendly passengers to boot. Is it worth the $50 dollars however? In my opinion and solely only my opinion, no, not at all. $25-30 would be much more better and would probably invite more of a younger riders.

A few during the trip compared this operation to the Spirit of Washington Dinner train and how the staff wasn't readily "on top of things". In my eyes for this operation, they did a excellent job and all did very well. A few things yes could be improved but this is still a new operator learning the ways of us Pacific Northwesterns think

Great job guys!

Brian Bundridge
Auburn, Washington

Well, the sad truth is that unless they are able to attract FAR more than 30 riders/trip the operation will not last long. 30 riders @$50 produces a gross income for the day of $1500. I doubt that $1500 even covers the diesel fuel burned in the 2100 and the F-40 never mind the insurance premium,track rental charge,crew costs, advertising,maintenance reserve etc.,etc.,etc.
My educated guess is that at $50 they'd need to carry an AVERAGE of 300 riders a trip to cover the direct operating costs. If I'm correct then with 30 passengers as reported above they're about 10% of the way there.
I wish them well and hope they can find some miracle formula that will dramatically improve ridership, but I don't see that happenning at $50 to take a slow speed ride through backyards and urban junk, with a diesel in the consist. Ain't gonna work!
Time will tell.