Since nobody directly answered this question from the original post:
A Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, to give it its full name, was a document issued by the old ICC in regard to any change to be made to any part of the national railway system. IE: Abandonment, new construction, or transfer of trackage to a different company. I'm not sure if this was also required for trackage rights or mergers or if those had a different certification.
These came into existence following the Transportation Act of 1920, a carefully thought-out rewrite of the regs to correct the problems brought to light by the experience of WWI that was out of date within less than ten years because it didn't really even consider the impact of hiway and waterway improvements already in fashion, let alone the coming of airlines. Unfortunately, it remained in effect, with occasional tinkering but no major rewrite, until the Staggers Act of 1981. This incredible 50 year lag in adjusting the regulations to reflect changing reality, probably because a lot of the people ( and hence their representatives) refused to realize or admit that the Railroads were no longer monopolizing land transport, darn near killed off the railroad system in this country. I am also unsure as to if the certificates died in '81 or if they continued in some form until the ICC became the Surf Board.
On the subject of the RG&SJ proposal, leaving aside the incredible chutzpah of proposing to run trains on the D&RGW's tracks without even talking to the Grande first, ISTR that they would have also needed ICC permission to issue any stocks or bonds to the public and possibly even approval of their incorporation as a transportation company. From everything I've ever read about this proposal, it sounds to me as if somebody had an idea but didn't bother to check with a lawyer familiar with the ins and outs of the laws regulating railroads or even have the common sense to get try to get an agreement with the Grande before going public. In this way it kind of reminds me of the rumor in 1954 (NGN #49 ) that an Illinois man was going to buy the line from Poncha Jct to Marshall Pass to operate a tourist line.
I suspect that if somebody had approached the D&RGW with a well thought-out and solidly financed proposal to buy the lines they would have had a positive response. Such a proposal would almost certainly have to have included:
1) Enough cash committed to both pay the Grande more than the scrap value of the lines and (to satisfy the ICC) to both carry out any improvements required to allow safe passenger(tourist) service over whatever parts of the line it would be planned for and to provide an operating reserve to cover costs while the new line was establishing itself. WAG - about 1.5 to 2 million $s for the Grande, 1 million for refurbishment and 1 million in reserve. I seriously doubt the ICC would have allowed a "shoestring" approach.
2) Some way of dealing with both the 3-rail section from Antonito to Alamosa (Trackage rights? Lease?) and the Silverton branch (to assuage fears that there weren't enough tourists for 2 lines - agreement to buy the Silverton if D&RGW saw a drop in traffic and/or just wanted out? Add another million or so to the financial requirements!) as neither of these lines were included in the abandonment proposal.
3) A detailed business plan for operations, with a minimum of "Gosh, we hope it'll work" and as many hard numbers as possible to get the ICC to go along.
So, perhaps not impossible but very costly. Perhaps 5 or 6 million $s upfront, including the cost of research, preparing the plans, and meeting all the legal requirements. Oh, not to mention a PR campaign to convince the locals, esp. in Durango, that it would be a good thing. Tricky.
Not much evidence that the RG&SJ proposal even came close to getting over this bar.
hank
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2018 01:06PM by hank.
