Grand Canyon Railway - steam is back!

[nachoman]

Yes, they traded 2-8-0 #18 and #20 for an ex- Spokane, Portland & Seattle Mikado. That was before the GCR had cancelled the daily steam program. #18 was operational, but its boiler had expired and needed new flues. #20 was basically a parts engine for #18. The smaller 2-8-0s weren't very suited for 40mph track, so they were traded away for the SP&S 2-8-2 in hopes of rebuilding it someday. A few months later, the company was sold again, and the new owners decided having a steam program was not giving them any extra business to justify the expense (probably true).

I can't fault the new owners for their decision, because it is basic capitalism. Research who your customers are and where they come from (predominantly California), and latch on to whatever fad can draw more of them in. In this case it was the "clean air - keep traffic from the canyon - save energy" fad. So, they cancelled the steam program in order to save money, and came up with the "environmental friendly" reason as a means of replacing whatever business was lost by canceling steam. It was considered a temporary cancellation at the time.

It's really the same old marketing strategy used for ages, no different than someone capitalizing on patriotism in late 2001 by printing and selling a bunch off US flag stickers, or the local restaurant hanging a bunch of "arizona cardinals" banners out front in order to latch on to "cardinals fever" last year. The difference here was the railroad used to be owned by someone who liked steam engines. When he sold it, it sold to a public-traded corporation that only cares about dollars and cents.