GeorgeGaskill Wrote:
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> With all respect due Kyle for their leadership, in
> my opinion the one thing that got the railroad on
> a firm basis is the acceptance of the states of CO
> and NM that they would have to carry the capital
> maintenance costs; the traffic revenue was not
> going to be sufficient to cover much more than the
> operating expenses. Once the states stepped up to
> the physical plant maintenance, the future got a
> lot brighter.

Kyle was responsible for maintaining the RR on a day-to-day basis, including installing 2500 ties a year. It was figured that number would maintain status quo. The States paid for any capital improvements. They came up with money for additional tie programs, building new passenger cars, major locomotive rebuilds (such as 463) and such. At the end of Kyle's time, we were beginning to work with the Commission on the large-scale track rehab project that came into being a few years later.

The big thing to point out about Kyle's tenure at the C&TS is - it paid its bills every year. It broke even and even made a little money every year. The gross revenues paid for on-going shop work every year to keep the fleet running - up to 7 locomotives in service, and 65,000+ passengers rode every year.

No one has managed to match that since.