You can take at least four business insights from Trip of a Lifetime by Paul Grescoe, a corporate history of the Rocky Mountaineer tourist train in Canada:
- “We’re in the tourism business, not the transportation business.”
- “The trains provided the customer volume, but the add-ons drove profits.”
- Putting customers into hotels at the halfway point (in the early years) let everyone see the mountain scenery during the day. Coupled with serving meals on trays at passengers’ seats, they could run a mostly coach-seating train, instead of a less-efficient consist with sleeping cars and dining cars. (Today, they offer several First Class options.)
- For service crew members, it’s a job — but for passengers, it’s the “trip of a lifetime.”
You can find a used copy online, or buy a new copy directly from the Rocky Mountaineer gift shop.
What books (train-related or otherwise) have helped your heritage rail business or non-profit organization?
About the Author: Heritage rail marketing expert Karl Sakas helps tourist railroads and private railcar owners use marketing to make more money, to preserve history and keep the trains running. Schedule a free telephone consultation — or hire him to help your organization — at www.HeritageRail.biz.
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