Last year the number of passengers taking Jokioinen Museum Railway trains rose 20%. The final count for year 2001 was 12 331 journeys. Trains were running on 15 scheduled operating days. In addition to traffic on these days there were charter and work trains running on other days. There were total of 259 passenger and 89 goods or work trains running at Jokioinen Museum Railway in the operating year 2001.
The total number of journeys in 2001 was about 1000 more than the five year average.
The operating turnover was better than ever. One reason was successful charter train sales. The increased income is needed for the construction of the new work shop which will take most of the income in next five years.
In summer 2001 there were six different special days at the museum railway: the opening of the operating season, Sunday market at Humppila station, Minkiö country market, the day of the museum railway, Minkiö harvest market and the 30 year celebration of museum train traffic in Finland. The most popular happening was surprisingly the day of the museum railway with more than 1800 journeys in a single day. In addition to these happenings there was the traditional starlight train on a September Saturday night. This Year there were at most more than 300 passengers on-board the train. Because of this in autumn 2002 the starlight train will be run by two trains.
In autumn 2001 the construction of the new locomotive and carriage shop started in Minkiö. The rails inside the shop were laid by the museum railway volunteers. Also the earth work for the connecting spur were made by the volunteers. By the end of year 2001 the walls of the accommodation part were already standing. The construction work should be completed by the end of this spring.