Ted:

An interesting idea.

However, one has to ask about the target market. Railroad theme nights would be of interest to railfans, but I wonder if there is any place with enough interested railfans to sustain such a concept. Accordingly, dinner trains have to appeal to a larger market. The heritage railroads which would serve as the organizing theme for the dinner trains have been gone so long that promoting a Great Northern, Milwaukee Road or Erie night on a dinner would have little meaning for most of the public. Moreover, over time, peoples' tastes change and some of the railroad menu choices of the 1950s and 1960s would have less appeal. Conversely, many people seek food today which was not served during the heyday of railroad dining service.

As for myself, I have been on Amtrak, commuter rail, excursion and tourist/museum train rides all over the country. However, I've never been on dinner train in 48 years of being a railfan. I've been content to enjoy meals in Amtrak dining cars (as recently as 2017, I had a wonderful dinner on the Empire Builder). Much of my enjoyment of eating in a dining car is moving at speed while having dinner. A dinner train plodding along at 10 or 15 mph, just does not appeal to me. I'd rather ride such a train during regular daylight hours and enjoy a fine dinner in a regular restaurant.