Railroad company goes out of business
Read more: Local, Economy, Business, Community, Outdoors, Tourism
"We were notified in early summer that the railway would not be operating. It was ceasing it's operation and would not be running the railroad up here in Michigan this year," says Robert Gattin, the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau Director. Citing high gas prices and rising insurance costs, the Lake Central Rail Tours Company has gone out of business. That means they won't be doing their annual fall color tour through Wexford County this year. "It was something we used to market the area as a destination for people that would want to drive to Cadillac and then get on the train for their tour," says Gattin. The Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau Director says the railroad tour ran on the weekends for the past fifteen years and would draw hundreds of people to Cadillac. "Most of the comments we received were very favorable about it. I think because we had a really good color season last year and also the novelty of the train ride I think it appealed to a lot of people," says Gattin.
However Gattin believes not having the train for color tours won't hurt tourism this season. "No I don't believe it will cost us any business. I think people, number one, it's all about the colors. It's about the leaves, it's not about the train. The train was an added feature we had." The visitors bureau says there are other color tours that will be appealing to visitors and locals. "We've really been promoting our trails we have available. Our color tour self guided tours that people can get our maps and have color coded signage where they can drive at their own pace and take their own personalized tour," says Gattin.
