There is not a lot of information available about the Dinner Train that is going to come through Columbia yet, but my wife and I saw a brief excerpt about it on the news the other night and we got pretty excited about something new to do in Columbia.
The Columbia Star Dinner Train website has this to say:
“The Columbia Star Dinner Train is pleased to announce the arrival of dinner train service to Columbia, Missouri this fall. The Columbia Star will be offering dining on-board our beautifully appointed vintage 1930’s and 40’s passenger cars pulled by 1950’s streamlined passenger locomotives on a relaxing 3 hour journey between Columbia and Centralia.
Come and recapture the romance of a by-gone era while watching the Missouri landscape roll by your window. While on-board our guests will be treated to unique appetizers, drinks and a Chef-prepared elegant five course gourmet meal all prepared right on the train. Prestigious railroad dining is recreated on white linen and fine china by candlelight with exemplary service from our wait staff. Friendly, courteous bartenders will do their part to get your journey off to a cheerful start with only the best brands of beverages, liquors, wines and liqueurs from our fully stocked bars.
Our vintage train is presently completing renovations out of state and will soon be enroute to Columbia to launch our inaugural service.”
I don’t really appreciate the “completed out of state” but business is business.
The Missourian predicted the dinner train could be running as early as August.
It’s October now, so we’ll see…
Some points of interest from the Missourian article:
- The average price for dinner & train ride is anticipated at $69 for the 2.5- to 3-hour roundtrip
- The train should create five professional jobs and 12 server positions
- The train will be located at the COLT Transload location, 6501 N. Brown Station Road
- The tourism bureau approved $45,000 from the Attraction Development Fund to help transport the 224-passenger train from Waterloo, Iowa, to Columbia
I’m not too pleased about the ‘out of state’ portion either considering what the tourism bureau spent. I’m also glad you pointed out the number of jobs and positions it would create. I guess considering the business is in a train, not a lot of positions could be expected. Curious where they’ll go for servicing when it needs it. But I’d be pretty cautious and want to see the business go for a year or so before I’d gamble such an amount on it.
Totally agree.
It’s like the IBM deal.
Columbia spent all this money, practically gave them a building for free, and then they are only going to bring a couple million dollars to the state. Regarding the 800 jobs they touted, it could take many years to reach that level of staffing…
I don’t really understand the problem with OUT OF STATE. This company is based there and have all the equipment to restore the trains there so what is the problem? I have wanted this to come here for a long time as we needed another attraction to Columbia! A bit pricey is the main problem I see and not family friendly at those cost but still a fun way to spend an evening. Yes IBM has to set up and get running before they hire 800 people don’t you think! I know of so many other towns and cities that are hurting and bravo Columbia for being aggressive and wanting us to continue to grow! It takes money to make money!
I love my hometown and love how people complain move away and then come back!