I wonder, John, if the C&TS rebranded itself as the Denver and Rio Grande Western Rail
way, could it get around the Union Pacific's claim to ownership of the D&RGW "brand"? It would probably take a good corporate attorney to sort that out. Back in the day, when railroads would reorganize themselves financially, they would simply identify the new corporation as "Railway" instead of "Railroad."
On the other hand, has anybody ever sat down with the folks in Omaha and sought out just exactly what it would cost to license the D&RGW brand? The UP lost a lot of street creds when it went after the model railroad industry a few years ago (for a while there, you simply couldn't buy a scale car labeled in any variation of D&RGW), and eventually they had to back off. Maybe they would be in a mood to regain those creds through a favorable licensing arrangement.
Just a thought...
Mike