Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad (HOBO, Winnipesaukee Scenic)

Just saw a blurb on Facebook from PatriotRail...

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Patriot Rail, a short line company that operates 32 railroads across the United States, is planning to revive passenger service on the Gettysburg & Northern Railroad in 2025, to capitalize on the millions of tourists who pour into this Civil War mecca each year.
G&N will join two other active Patriot Rail tourist lines, Blue Ridge Scenic Railway in Georgia and Granite State Scenic in New Hampshire, recently rebranded from its previous name, Hobo Railroad.

No idea if its just the Hobo name that is going, or whether it includes the P&L and the Winnipesaukee.

Brand consolidation, however, is sometimes a good thing.

(couldn't find anything else, and hoborr.com still directs you to the familiar page)

"Granite State Scenic" sounds more like it! I think this re-branding is long over due. Even as a kid, I was more impressed with the heritage railroads that just focused on the railroad experience. The Hobo theme certainly wasn't overplayed, but if nothing else, it might have swayed expectations.

Granite State Scenic is a better name. What worries me, how is there enough profit in running multiple tourist railroads for the moneyed interests? Especially in a high inflation, moderate-to-high interest rate environment?

I've wondered that myself, as Patriot will be taking a percentage of the railroad's income. I expect they will grow both operations to try and increase profits, maybe bring in more first-class accommodations like a dome car or two, add first-class dining to the Winnipesaukee Scenic, add more special events like Thomas the Tank, etc. With the winter success coming from both the Cog Railway and Conway Scenic Railroad, don't be surprised if Patriot pushes that envelop for year-round operations too. I'm not sure the Winn will ever be year-round (not much going on in the Lakes Region in the winter) but Lincoln/Woodstock stays plenty busy during the winter; adding a train ride to the winter attraction will be a positive benefit to the area. I know, I know there's the snowmobile corridor but as we have seen over in the Mt. Washington Valley, the state will rule in favor of the railroad. If that happens the state will also assist in finding a new path for the corridor.

I believe it was just announced on another page that Granite State is looking to use the line in the winter this having corridor 11 moved

Aside from the report on Trains, there's nothing on Patriot Rail's website mentioning the rebranding of the Hobo and still references it as the Hobo on their website. Hobo's website and social media are still up with no mentions of a rebrand, I wonder if the rebrand was supposed to be kept secret, until they were ready to actually roll out the new brand.
Does this rebrand include the Winnipesaukee Scenic or are they keeping that? Not a fan of the Hobo name but the new name doesn't thrill me either.

www.grantiestatescenicrailroad.com

Registered 9/26/23

Nothing is showing up when I go to the link, it says "site cannot be reached unavailable".

Correct, it's registered and "parked".

MRY wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 3:13 pm www.grantiestatescenicrailroad.com

Registered 9/26/23

Spelled wrong in the link. And no idea who has registered it.

It says it is parked by godaddy. therefore it is being squatted by a speculator and the domain is for sale.

Correction www.granitestatescenicrailroad.com

GoDaddy is a domain registrar which is used by people to hide domain ownership. That doesn't mean that the domain is being "squatted" and not being held by a final owner (who wants or needs to remain anonymous).

"get this domain" button. When you click it it says it is taken. Very unprofessional look for any website. Better to return nothing or an "under construction" type page.

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Considering they're still using the current business name and website, why are you so needlessly worried about the "look" of a url that doesn't actually physically exist in any form? According to this, it's been a registered trade name for several years already:

https://quickstart.sos.nh.gov/online/Bu ... sID=705823

Many corporations have names that they do not use for their actual operations - i.e., Hobo, Scenic, etc. can all be "d/b/a" named operations of a corporation of a different name.