While watching freight hopping videos in USA/Canada, my mind began thinking of freight hopping in Sweden. While id love for it to become like in The USA/Canada, for several reasons it's not really possible. Main reason is unlike USA, Sweden uses semi trucks to transport most goods across the country. Then i began thinking of ways of creating a hybrid solution, out of that came the idea ''Sweden by Freight''.
The idea is to have a freight train specifically for riding in, then having a specific time schedule it will go between larger cities in Sweden at whatever pace feels preferable. Each trip/route will take up to half a day, depending upon speed, traffic and distance. Between trips there will be 1½ days of downtime where the train just stands parked in a freight terminal. The reason for this is that I want to give people that ride on it the chance to explore Sweden, would be a bit hard to do it if the train was constantly on the move. Regarding how often it will go, been thinking of having it every other month if people are interested enough.
For those who wonder why I have arranged so it has extended trips between cities, it is mostly because otherwise the trips would be really freaking short and you would not see much of Sweden's nature. Sweden has allot to offer when it comes to nature, and id love to show as much as possible.
Since this is in the idea stage so far, have not completely decided on the train itself. For now i'm thinking of having one engine, 30 box cars and 2 cabooses behind the engine. This might change, depends on how I feel the train should be. The whole thing wont cost anything, since if i do make this real it will be for the fun of it and not to try and squeeze money out of people. Sure part of is to give an unique experience of Sweden, but it largely consists of having fun.
would love to hear what you guys think of this idea, became quite a bit of text but had allot to explain.
The idea is to have a freight train specifically for riding in, then having a specific time schedule it will go between larger cities in Sweden at whatever pace feels preferable. Each trip/route will take up to half a day, depending upon speed, traffic and distance. Between trips there will be 1½ days of downtime where the train just stands parked in a freight terminal. The reason for this is that I want to give people that ride on it the chance to explore Sweden, would be a bit hard to do it if the train was constantly on the move. Regarding how often it will go, been thinking of having it every other month if people are interested enough.
For those who wonder why I have arranged so it has extended trips between cities, it is mostly because otherwise the trips would be really freaking short and you would not see much of Sweden's nature. Sweden has allot to offer when it comes to nature, and id love to show as much as possible.
Since this is in the idea stage so far, have not completely decided on the train itself. For now i'm thinking of having one engine, 30 box cars and 2 cabooses behind the engine. This might change, depends on how I feel the train should be. The whole thing wont cost anything, since if i do make this real it will be for the fun of it and not to try and squeeze money out of people. Sure part of is to give an unique experience of Sweden, but it largely consists of having fun.
would love to hear what you guys think of this idea, became quite a bit of text but had allot to explain.
Wait, what? Is this a business plan? As in, you want to buy a freight train and then let people ride in it?
I'm confused, Eric. So confuuuused.
I'm confused, Eric. So confuuuused.
Hi dave, that was a really good way of boiling down down the whole thing. Yes, its basically that. Don't know if i will need to buy a freight train or just lease/hire one.
With that i meant yes, will have a freight train that people can ride in. would have edited my previous post if it was possible.
Haha, well I've got to give credit where credit's due. That's certainly an original idea :P
I've spotted a couple of tiny flaws in your plan though. I know it's always good to receive constructive criticism, so here's mine:
Cost of Train: I'm not very familiar with the costs of freight trains but I'd bet that they're well into the millions.
Cost of Maintenace: Again, it's not my area of expertise, but I imagine that fuel and maintenance costs of a freight train are enormous.
Cost of Track: I'm pretty sure there'd be a ton of licenses and paperwork and money needed to allow someone to run a train on public tracks.
Cost of Insurance: You're wanting people to run and jump onto a freight train. I don't think that getting them to sign a disclaimer will cover you when one of them falls under the wheels :P
Size of Potential Market: I have a feeling that freight hopping is quite a niche market. Like maybe 100 people in the whole world would want to do it.
I've done some quick calculations. Once you've set everything up you'd need 200 customers every day, each paying £15,000, in order to break even.
Do you have the TV show "Dragon's Den" in Sweden? You should go on it ;)
I've spotted a couple of tiny flaws in your plan though. I know it's always good to receive constructive criticism, so here's mine:
Cost of Train: I'm not very familiar with the costs of freight trains but I'd bet that they're well into the millions.
Cost of Maintenace: Again, it's not my area of expertise, but I imagine that fuel and maintenance costs of a freight train are enormous.
Cost of Track: I'm pretty sure there'd be a ton of licenses and paperwork and money needed to allow someone to run a train on public tracks.
Cost of Insurance: You're wanting people to run and jump onto a freight train. I don't think that getting them to sign a disclaimer will cover you when one of them falls under the wheels :P
Size of Potential Market: I have a feeling that freight hopping is quite a niche market. Like maybe 100 people in the whole world would want to do it.
I've done some quick calculations. Once you've set everything up you'd need 200 customers every day, each paying £15,000, in order to break even.
Do you have the TV show "Dragon's Den" in Sweden? You should go on it ;)
I'm really grateful for the feedback Dave, thanks that you wanted to look that much into the idea. Haven't looked into all of those flaws, what research i have done has mostly been on the cost of the train itself. Since i'm going for used cars, i can get away with between 10 and 20 grand per boxcar.
New ones can reach up to 135 grand, much because of shortage of boxcars. Refurbishing and transport might get the price up to between 20 and 30 grand per car, including cabooses. The most expensive one will be the locomotive, i expect to pay at least 200 grand for a good one. A good estimate for the entire train is around 1.2 million dollars, which is very cheap for a train but still very expensive.
I don't think maintenance will be that expensive, much because the carts will be put under much lower stresses than if they were loaded with goods. Having it crewed will cost a good deal more than maintenance, since I will be paying the railroad company to take care of it for me. I think that would effectively make each stop also a crew change. I think the track cost could easily be worked into that as well, since some deal can be made regarding that. Don't know regarding insurance, might be able to get it to fall under ''extreme sport'' or something similar.
Don't think we have Dragon's Den here in Sweden, even if we did i highly doubt i could get them to finance this idea. It isn't really an idea people on that show would endorse since its not that profitable.
New ones can reach up to 135 grand, much because of shortage of boxcars. Refurbishing and transport might get the price up to between 20 and 30 grand per car, including cabooses. The most expensive one will be the locomotive, i expect to pay at least 200 grand for a good one. A good estimate for the entire train is around 1.2 million dollars, which is very cheap for a train but still very expensive.
I don't think maintenance will be that expensive, much because the carts will be put under much lower stresses than if they were loaded with goods. Having it crewed will cost a good deal more than maintenance, since I will be paying the railroad company to take care of it for me. I think that would effectively make each stop also a crew change. I think the track cost could easily be worked into that as well, since some deal can be made regarding that. Don't know regarding insurance, might be able to get it to fall under ''extreme sport'' or something similar.
Don't think we have Dragon's Den here in Sweden, even if we did i highly doubt i could get them to finance this idea. It isn't really an idea people on that show would endorse since its not that profitable.
Haha, "not that profitable" is an understatement. It's fun to imagine and stuff but c'mooon...
Genuine question, Erik, how old are you?
If you're going to buy a freight train (which is hilarious in itself) you'd be best off converting it and turning it into a novelty hotel or something.
Genuine question, Erik, how old are you?
If you're going to buy a freight train (which is hilarious in itself) you'd be best off converting it and turning it into a novelty hotel or something.
I am more than 29 years old, if you think this idea is far out then i can say its nothing compared to some ideas i am planning. But since this is about freight hopping, those ideas matter little. Could do something like, have it converted into a novelty hotel. That would depend on if people would like it to be that way.
Okay, are you an eccentric billionaire? Usually people dream big about making money, not dream big about burning it :P
You know what you'd be better off spending $3,000,000 on (other than absolutely anything else)? You could pay a team of developers to make a very lifelike Virtual Reality freight hopping experience. Same results, a million times safer, barely any running costs. It would still lose masses of money but at least you'd just be left with an Oculus Rift headset and treadmill rather than a 40-car long freight train :P
Just think of the potential! You could have a super-realistic "sitting in a bush for 10 hours" level. And a fully immersive "eating beans out a can for the third day running" stage. And then when they finally manage to catch a train you could have the "I can feel my bones vibrating for 12 hours" section. It would be a winner! :D
You know what you'd be better off spending $3,000,000 on (other than absolutely anything else)? You could pay a team of developers to make a very lifelike Virtual Reality freight hopping experience. Same results, a million times safer, barely any running costs. It would still lose masses of money but at least you'd just be left with an Oculus Rift headset and treadmill rather than a 40-car long freight train :P
Just think of the potential! You could have a super-realistic "sitting in a bush for 10 hours" level. And a fully immersive "eating beans out a can for the third day running" stage. And then when they finally manage to catch a train you could have the "I can feel my bones vibrating for 12 hours" section. It would be a winner! :D
Yaaa I gotta say that idea is out there...unless your a millionaire, if thats the case...I could use a sponsor for my trip! Small amount, 2-3 grand, I dont think the rail companys insurance would even allow for such a thing. Good luck though
lol signed up to read this post, and got to say thats the most stupid plan i have ever heard.... thought it was going to be about convincing Dave to come and ride swedish freight trains in 160km/h in -15 degrees.. Hahaha well well carry on Dave.
