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The following narrative was given to guests on the 25th birthday celebration of Star Clipper Dinner Train®.
On Saturday evening, Aug. 4, 1984, the first dinner train in North America made its debut departure from Osage, Iowa, with 121 passengers onboard a classic passenger train named “The Star Clipper”. Guests that evening enjoyed a new dining and entertainment concept offering a chef-prepared meal and live tableside entertainment while onboard a classic, moving passenger train. It was the brain child of one of the legendary short line and regional railroad operators in the United States, Mr. Jack Haley. You may have seen Mr. Haley when you entered into the depot, as he is our “poster-board conductor” and a reminder of our past. Our depot lobby is filled with many heritage photographs of steam trains in Walled Lake, the heritage of our railcars, and fittingly, the founder of our dinner train concept.
The Star Clipper first operated out of Osage Iowa in 1984, then moving to Waverly Iowa in 1986. In 1985 Mr. Haley teamed up with Laurence Coe who brought the train to Michigan, first to Paw Paw in 1985 and then to Walled Lake in 1986, where it has been ever since. The Iowa operations were discontinued in December of 1987 with Mr. Haley’s decision to sell the railroad to an up-and-coming freight railroad conglomerate. The Star Clipper made a brief appearance in the Fort Worth Texas area, running two seasons, 1999 and 2000. In 2006 the Star Clipper Dinner Train was sold to Railmark Inc. who increased and expanded both its programming and advertising in order to meet an ever changing and diverse ridership demographic in a world of internet communications.
The Star Clipper set the standard as North America’s first dinner train that twenty-one other dinner trains would follow over the years in various parts of the United States and Canada. Practically all of them offered only catered meals. Today while only eight other dinner trains exist, the Star Clipper has never been matched with its fresh, chef-prepared, onboard meals and excellent, live tableside entertainment. Our entertainment is the best and Mr. Mike Klier’s company, Theater Arts Production, has been providing the entertainment for the Star Clipper for 22 of the past 25 years. Our train has been featured in many movies and documentaries, most recently in the movie Judicial Consent.
Now 25 years later, the Star Clipper Dinner Train has provided memorable, rail-oriented entertainment experiences to well over two million passengers. The Star Clipper Dinner Train set the standard for Murder Mystery theatrical shows and musical shows performed “Vegas-Style” onboard a moving train. Our Murder Mystery Show, “MURDER MADNESS”, is Michigan’s longest-running murder mystery show, period. No other dinner train in North America has ever completely matched the Star Clipper’s unique dining and entertainment experience and today, the Star Clipper Dinner Train offers a themed rail entertainment experience to people of all ages with our classic Premium Dinner Train, Children’s Themed Breakfast and Lunch Trains, Sunday Family Dinner Trains, Bed & Breakfast experiences, our up and coming Party Trains, and many more rail entertainment themes.
Railmark hopes to move its unique rail entertainment experiences to other major markets in the United States and Canada in the coming years. We believe that we have some very exciting years ahead as we move our train out to other markets in both North America and elsewhere in the world.
But this evening please enjoy the Star Clipper’s original musical performance, and always a classic, “Sentimental Journey”. Also don’t forget to remember the age-old tradition, “You always meet the nicest people on a train”. So during the trip please turn to your neighbor and introduce yourself and make some new friends. Friends are made each week on the Star Clipper.
Thank you for joining us this evening as we celebrate the Star Clipper Dinner Train’s 25th Birthday, as North America’s first and oldest dinner train. Please sign up for our e-newsletter and keep up with our company and its train experiences. On behalf of the Star Clipper’s fine staff and its corporate parent Railmark, we thank you for joining us this evening.
B. Allen Brown
President & CEO
Railmark Inc.