130: Marketing in Rail Preservation

The Roundhouse

How can you market your tourist railroad, museum, or non-profit organization more effectively? Eric Mencis, Operations Manager for Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Joey Bryan, Communications Manager for Nashville Steam Preservation Society, and Hal Raven, Owner of the Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway, discuss their approaches to marketing and advertising their businesses and organizations.

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This episode is sponsored by Strasburg Rail Road Mechanical Services and Rail and Road Auctions.

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Question of the Day

When have you donated to a cause or visited a tourist railroad or museum specifically due to the marketing?

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About the Panelists

Eric Mencis has worked professionally in railroad preservation since 2008. Starting his career working concessions on the Durango & Silverton, while obtaining a degree in Tourism & Hospitality at the same time. Eric has used his knowledge and degree for several different originations now, such as the Skunk Train, The Nevada Northern, the Maine Narrow Gauge and the Western Railway Museum. Most notable Eric is known for bringing fame to Dirt the Cat and seen first hand what Dirt brought to the overall business operations of the Nevada Northern. Now Western Maryland’s new operations manager Eric is currently developing a marketing campaign, customer service strategies and operations plan to take the railroad to the next level.

Hal Raven has been in the railroad industry for 26 years, beginning his career at the Batten Kill Railroad. Train and boats have always been a love of his, and his wife, son and daughter all love helping with their scenic railway and tour boat business on Saratoga Lake. In 2022, they began operating the Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway based out of Corinth NY.

Joey Bryan is a native of Franklin, Tennessee and spent his adolescence visiting No. 576 in Centennial Park. Joey is a preservationist, historian, and writer with a passion for saving America’s industrial heritage. He earned a B.A. in History from the University of Alabama in 2012 and a M.A. in Public History from Middle Tennessee State University in 2015. While at MTSU, he worked as a research assistant at the Center for Historic Preservation.

In the summer of 2013, Joey interned at the Virginia Museum of Transportation during the kickoff of the “Fire Up 611!” fundraising campaign. He worked for the museum the following year as Assistant Communications Manager assisting with social media, marketing, and media relations during Norfolk & Western 611’s first excursion season. Because of his involvement with the 611 restoration effort, Joey wrote his master’s thesis on the economic and interpretive benefits of collaborative partnerships between railroads and non-profit organizations for the operation of steam-powered excursions.

Joey’s ties to Nashville railroading date back to his great-grandfather who worked for the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway as a clerk in the general office building on Broadway. Joey also serves as Historian & Communications Manager for Nashville Steam.

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