I agree with Drew's assessment. The average tourist train rider just wants to go for a ride. They don't really care about right of way construction or how historically accurate it is. They do, however, love to go through tunnels. I have worked in train service on the existing V&T operation for a number of years and you won't believe the number of times, while operating locomotives 29 or 8, that riders have asked me "Is this a steam engine?". I think maybe 10 percent of the riders, at most, really give a damn whether it's steam or diesel. For most, the steam locomotive is just the icing on the cake that they would eat anyway. As long as they get to go through that tunnel they're happy.

The rebuilt V&T will be a great ride and the fact that it is overbuilt will be a maintance plus in the future. I hope that creative advertising will draw enough patrons to make it a go. Of course there will have to be a train robbery along the way.