As a former employee of the railroad, I'm easily dismissed as just having a vendetta against Swirk. Say what you will but let me tell you, from direct personal experience, the atmosphere at the railroad under Russ and Paul was worlds apart from what it is under the Swirks. I truly don't understand how some people can still defend Swirk after all this time. Under Russ and Paul, the railroad was a finely oiled machine. I always kept a timetable on me even when not on duty. You could set your watch by that timetable, those trains adhered to a schedule. If train 10 was scheduled to arrive at Conway at 10:55am, depart Conway as train 11 at 11:03am, arrive at North Conway at 11:25am and depart for Bartlett at 11:30am and be at Intervale at 11:37am, it was so. This was the first red flag for me once they got 7470 up and running again. Knowing the timetable and witnessing train 31 departing North Conway 45 minutes late while watching a new employee foul multiple switches. It's not that none of us didn't give the guy a chance. But when he insisted on not listening to experienced railroaders and even terminating them for speaking up, things changed. People left. And now we're here.
I look at the railroad now and the direction that it's going is not tailored towards railfans or focusing on what they have and what they do well. Dwight focused a lot of the railfan community but was smart enough to know that they weren't his only client base. Russ came in and expanded the operations from one train to two all the way to Fabyans. Even Russ didn't lose sight of the railfans and Paul did a great job of focusing on railfan specific events. The Conway Scenic is not a railfan friendly railroad anymore, swirk has no interest in this clientele. It is afterall the smaller market. Most people who go to the railroad are riding the train because it's something to do. They're promised a scenic ride and so they buy a ticket. These are the people who are also taking their kids to Story Land, Santas Village, Clarks, etc.
I can completely understand from a business perspective why swirk would focus less on the the railfan community and more on the everyday tourist. The everyday tourist doesn't care the age of the passenger car they're riding on, they don't care what color the diesel is that's pulling the train or if the paint matches the heritage of the engine or the line it's on. They don't know the history of the Conway Branch or the Mountain Division and most of them probably wouldn't notice 7470 pulling the train over 573. If you look at the buses purchased for the Cruise trains, the additional rolling stock, the re-ballasting of the ROWs, the endless chaining off of the platforms and yards, you can see that the railroad is headed in a very different direction than the Conway Scenic that most of us grew up with and experienced. If that's what swirk wants to do, that's what he'll do, he owns the railroad and that's it, end of story.
That said, what the tourist clientele will care about are dirty passenger cars, PA systems that are either too loud and distorted or don't work at all, air conditioning that doesn't function, bathrooms that are closed off, schedules that aren't adhered to and an overall cluttered and dirty look to the place. That will eventually come back to bite him. If you look at recent reviews on Trip Advisor, these everyday tourists really aren't happy about the quality of the service they're being provided. But with the amount of visitors that come to the MWV, he really doesn't have to care because he has an almost endless supply of new people. It's just a money making operation for swirk at this point. Outward appearance isn't a concern as long as people are coming to the door and buying an admission ticket to ride a dirty and off schedule train.
I think the majority of us at this point who fell in love with railroading because of our early experiences at Conway Scenic have come to terms that that place no longer exists. It's gone. Swirk bought the place and took away something very special to the majority of us in this community and has made it clear that he doesn't care and doesn't want us back. My fondest memories of Conway Scenic are walking the yard late summer nights with my grandpa who would teach me all about the various equipment and buildings. We even had employees notice us walking around and would answer questions or show us what they're working on in the roundhouse. It pains me that I can't do the same with my kid anymore but there's nothing I can do. It sucks but it just is what it is now. I wouldn't keep speculating on when we'll see 7470 or 501 out there on the rails again because I just don't see that happening from the direction I'm seeing the railroad going. I hope things change but I'm not holding my breath.
