By STEVE SMETHERS
Abilene Smoky Valley Railroad
The Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad has announced its most ambitious operating schedule in the railroad’s 31-year history. The regular 2024 schedule will open on April 10, with some dinner trains and excursions scheduled during the KSU/KU Spring Breaks in March.
A&SV President and General Manager Ross Boelling said that the railroad will run as many as 300 trains this year, a number that includes 33 dinner trains, a possible 42 school charters, and an expanded 168-train excursion schedule. There will be two special events on the schedule: a return of the Great Pumpkin Patch Express Peanuts train in October and the railroad’s rapidly growing Christmas holiday tradition, the Cowtown Santa Express in November and December.
“We’ve never run this many trains before,” Boelling said. "Last season, we learned that there is a great demand for what we do among people from an increasing geographical area. "
Boelling said the railroad enjoyed a 42 percent increase in ridership in 2023, and that the A&SV attracted passengers from over half of the communities in Kansas. But the railroad has increasingly attracted tourists from major metropolitan areas, including Wichita, Kansas City, Omaha, and Lincoln. He added that the A&SV also attracted passengers from 42 states and seven foreign countries last year.
“Our passengers do more than just ride trains,” Boelling said. “On our trains, passengers learn how railroads built Kansas’ agriculture-oriented economy, and how so many Kansas towns and cities were directly established by the railroads. "
The railroad’s Smoky Valley Limited dinner train schedule has been greatly expanded for 2024, with more special themed trains featuring regional caterers and expanded menus. The A&SV’s “Dining Car Heritage Series” returns in 2024, featuring menu items from the heyday of passenger train travel, when some of America’s finest dining was in railroad dining cars. The menus were researched by railroad historian Kevin Bailey, and the menus are being recreated by local caterer Lucinda Kohman.
Boelling said the Smoky Valley Limited is running more trains centered around holidays and special events.
Boelling said the schedule will feature more runs of the Flint Hills Express, the A&SV’s excursion train, and the Meadowlark Flyer, the railroad’s school charter. Excursion trains will begin running in April on a Wednesday through Sunday schedule. School charters will run on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Excursion trains will run through September, Boelling said.
The addition of special event trains was a major draw for the railroad last year. The Peanuts-oriented Great Pumpkin Patch Express drew 1,658 passengers during Halloween season, and the Cowtown Santa Express drew 3,044 holiday season tourists.
The railroad’s full schedule and ticketing information is available at the A&SV website, asvrr.org.
“Our tagline is ‘We will move you in 2024,' and we hope you will join us this year," Boelling said.