Bigger than you would think

By Aaron Isaacs, HRA editor

For some time I’ve been beating the drum to argue that railway preservation in North America is now an honest-to-goodness industry with a real economic impact. In a previous post and a TRAINS Magazine article I estimated that the industry spends $400 million a year. I’ve since upped that estimate to $500 million. And that’s just straight expenditures.

HeritageRail Alliance has hired Stone Consulting to estimate the economic impact of railway preservation. That goes beyond direct expenses to quantify suppliers’ salaries, hotel and food purchased  by passengers and other ripples into the local economy. It will certainly reach $1 billion and probably more.

This post contains another indicator of the industry’s size–route miles. By conventional railroading’s definition, tourist railroads and museums are short lines. By my count, 216 of them own or lease railroads and operate trains. Add all those route miles together and they total 2734 miles. That’s the equivalent a good sized regional railroad.

But aren’t tourist railroads just the frosting on the cake, with freight really keeping the railroad alive? In some cases that’s true, but only 28 percent of that mileage is shared with freight trains. The rest exists solely to carry railway preservation passengers.

The table gives the detailed breakdown. The right-hand column shows the miles shared with freight service.

When you start to think about economic impact, tourist railroads and museums tend to have different profiles. The amount of rolling stock and train starts at most tourist railroads resemble traditional freight short lines, with the exception of large operations like White Pass & Yukon, Durango & Silverton, Grand Canyon and Strasburg. Because museums are in the business of preservation and restoration, they tend to have more operational pieces of rolling stock per route mile. Consider Illinois Railway Museum and Shore Line Trolley Museum, for example. The more pieces that are restored and kept in operating condition, the greater the economic impact.

At some point we should compile a roster of active rolling stock, but for now, check out these route miles.