What railroad had its best year in 1973?
By 1978, the Steamtown Foundation had begun scouting for a new location for Steamtown, U.S.A.  Orlando and perhaps other locations in Florida were under consideration. In 1980, Ray Holland, the Chairman of the Board of Steamtown Foundation, resigned after accusing the board of incompetence.  His resignation was followed by that of Robert Barbera, a long-time director of the board.  In the year that followed, Steamtown did not run excursions.  Don Ball, Jr., had taken over direction of Steamtown by this time and discovered that the excursion train did not meet federal safety guidelines.  In 1981, despite its vast holdings of vintage railroad stock, Steamtown, U.S.A. had only 17,000 visitors, while Connecticut's Essex Valley Railroad, which ran two small engines, had 139,000 visitors. Even in its best year, 1973, the Vermont location had attracted only 65,000 visitors.Self-syndicated newspaper columnist Michael McManus once said that his goal in writing his weekly column was "to suggest answers to problems of the old industrial states." In March 1982 a substantial article by McManus appeared in the Bangor Daily News.  In the article, McManus proposed several reasons why a city, like Chicago, Pittsburgh, or Scranton might find the addition of a tourist attraction like Steamtown beneficial.  McManus went on to explain why the business was failing in Vermont.  Among the reasons the article gave for poor attendance at the Vermont site were: past failed management, an isolated location and the lack of signs on Interstate 91, which the state opposed. In addition to these problems, the roof of the largest storage shed on the site collapsed under heavy snow the previous winter, damaging several pieces of equipment. Among the injured were the Canadian Pacific Railway No. 1293 and the Meadow River Lumber Company No. 1 Shay (shown in the infobox).
Steamtown, U.S.A.