I've often wondered if CSRR could make it so people could do roundtrips starting above the Notch, but I always came back to the fact that two Mountaineer round trips would be tough to fit into the day; one of them would start awfully early for most potential passengers to want to take it. I hadn't thought of using different equipment to have special "from above the Notch" trips.
What would it take to store the RDC up above the Notch someplace for a few weeks in leaf season and use it to offer short, maybe non-notch rides to people who are staying up above the Notch and don't want to drive down to
Conway just to ride a train partway back again? Could they just park the RDC on a siding at Crawfords or Fabyans overnight? How far can the RDC run between fuelings? People staying up that way might be interested in a ride from Fabyans north (or I guess railroad west?); yes, it's along a highway, but the views are as good as the views on the Conway route. CSRR could set up a special schedule of like one-hour RTs from Fabyans for Columbus Day weekend, other leaf-season weekends, or peak summer season, and probably get passengers they currently have no chance of getting. Enough to make it pay? I have no idea. How far north of Fabyans are the tracks in good enough shape to run the RDC at, oh, 10 mph?