|
|
 |
|
| Passion Investments: Trains |
Iron Horsemanship
Debra Ryono
01/01/2005
|
While owners may garner a profit when selling their private cars, those of us primarily seeking a return on our investments should look elsewhere. “Owning a private railcar is something you have to want to do,” Garner says. “You put a lot more into it than you ever get out. You don’t put in $300,000 to $400,000 and at the end of five years get to sell it for 5 percent profit.” However, these cars do offer ancillary benefits, he adds, including tax deductions for allowable business expenses, charter fees and, of course, personal enjoyment.
As with their yacht- and jet-owning brethren, railcar owners find that chartering defrays expenses. “When you use it for charter, the car has a good return on investment,” Sheridan says. John Kirkwood, from whom Henry bought his two cars, started rebuilding private cars 22 years ago. Today he is involved in seven business partnerships spanning a range of industries; Rail Ventures is the business that grew out of his passion for trains. “When you can do what Patrick is doing and tie it into the promotion of a business, it makes great sense financially,” he notes. “It’s a special treat; a novelty for people.”
Rewards—both tangible and intangible—outweigh expenses, Henry maintains. “It’s great for bonding. You watch from the dome and have your cocktails together. You see buffalo in Colorado, deer in Texas and porpoises outside Santa Barbara. It’s a wonderful feeling,” he says with a broad smile. “And nothing is more beautiful than at night. You turn off the lights and see stars while going 70 miles per hour. You can’t even begin to describe it to people.”
 | | THESE CARS do offer ancillary benefits, including tax deductions for allowable business expenses, charter fees and, of course, personal enjoyment. |
Dante Stephensen, proprietor of Dante’s Down the Hatch, a restaurant in Atlanta, would agree. He owns a large home but lives on the Survivor, an 820-square-foot car that once belonged to Barbara Hutton. That car, along with Stephensen’s 1914 Pullman solarium lounge car—Dante’s Decadence—and a caboose, sits hidden on 21¼2 wooded, fenced acres in the heart of Atlanta.
While some people struggle to get away to their vacation home, Stephensen lives in what he calls “my cabin on the creek.” If he wants a different view, he can hook up to a train and travel the rails. “You buy these as a labor of love,” he adds. “It’s not the type of thing a stuffed-shirt business person should get involved in.”
Photography courtesy Patrick Henry Creative Promotions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
