Steam & Excursion > Denver 4014 - Experience UP visitor numbers

The Camerail Club in Omaha manned the "Experience Union Pacific"  car and counted visitors at the recent display in Denver.

Here's what they tabulated according to club President David Seidel:

"We keep a count of the people that go through the Experience Car, for Friday July 29th the number of visitors was 4589.   As  a rule of thumb we figure that is =17px1/3 to 1/4 of the total number of people that visit the site - so that would put the total number at 13,000 to 18,000; the agreement of all of the railroad people at the site put that number at 16,000 as the "official" count.   

"The site was open to the public in the evening as well and the public was invited to see the engine.   It should also be noted that lines of people were all along the route from Denver to Nunn and at every road crossing through the grasslands from Nunn to Cheyenne. 

 "There were 124 passengers on board the Union Pacific Museum Special and some 20 VIPs in the rear two cars.   It should be noted that museum passengers came from all corners of the country.   Arrival in Cheyenne was met with a parking lot full of people west of the depot." 

Thanks Dave for all the support your group has given to Union Pacific specials over the years.

JB - Omaha

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David Seidel has been a dediated historian and supporter of Union Pacific for decades. He and his group are to be commended for their assistance.

Kennard Britton
 

Nice report and good event. Those are very respectful numbers for sure. When we were planning the AFT display section ( 1entrance car,10 display cars, 1 exit car) we estimated that without a moving walkway the most we could get through in a 10 hour display day ( 10am-8pm) would be about 4,500-5,000 people. With the moving walkway it was approx. 16,000 if it was a mix of kids and adults and 19,000 if all kids ( they take up less room ). It worked out well and over the 21 month tour we averaged about 15,000 visitors a day.  

  Thanks again to the Union Pacific RR for all they do to celebrate their heritage and to educate the public on the huge role the steam engines and the railroads played in the building of America and the critical role played by today's railroads in keeping the American economy humming.

   Ross Rowland 

Thanks David Seidel and your crew for making the UP Museum Special happen on such short notice.

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Dave. Left I the conductor unifotm, wanted to add these comments:

"There is an "army" of railroad people that made this display and trip happen.   Within just a few weeks the people in Cheyenne and the planners in Omaha (along with all the people in the field) had to work out all the details - one most important was the use of Denver Union Station.   A plan had to made for the flow of people at Denver Union Station, conditions for parking the Big Boy, how all of this would relate to the RTD & Amtrak operations and then a safety plan for all of the visitors. 

" On top of that the Union Pacific Museum people had to come up with plans for ticket sales, hotel and food services in that same few week period.   It was truly a "team" effort and I am proud to say I had a small part in it.    This last weekend was a result of all those people and all of the planning.   To quote a line from the old TV show A Team; "Gota love it when a plan comes together".

JB - Omaha