You can own your own railroad car.
Start with the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, Inc., at
http://www.aaprco.com/ Their book of glossy pictures includes a snapshot of the Dagny Taggart and she was written up in magazine issue number 86 from 1999. She makes conventions often. Her owner has an engineering degree from MIT and and MBA from Harvard and is the business manager of the Buffalo Symphony. http://www.livingprimetime.com/AllCovers/Mar1998/maestro_of_business.htm
Dagny is an observation car and this picture is somewhat nicer than the other photo. Click here and scroll down.
http://www.trainweb.org/amtrakpix/travelogues/81202A/81602B.html
It is no surprise that you have to meet a lot of regulations, railroading being what it is. In addition to the government, this includes the expectations of any company whose tracks and/or engines you use. That said, it is not much different from owning your own airplane or yacht. The cost is about the same -- $100,000 to $1 million -- with much of the burden being in upkeep and maintenance once you own it. As with aircraft, maintenance must be done to someone else's standard (Amtrack, for instance) before they will carry your car. The feature "Rolling Splendor" from CNN Money includes this:
"On a per-foot basis," says Ruger, "they're really much cheaper than a yacht."
He's got a point. An 82-foot car in Amtrak-worthy condition represents an investment by its owner of perhaps $250,000 (purchase price plus refurbishment). Just flip through the classified ads of any yachting magazine, and you'll see that a comparably equipped 82-foot yacht costs you $800,000 to $1.2 million. And try as you might, you'll never get to Denver in it.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/06/22/244182/index.htm
You can rent or lease one for an personal experience or a business meeting. In fact, Balticon is a science fiction convention that is held on a train car, http://www.balticon.org/
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agny Taggarts
