Re: Silverton Northern Revival

It is at the cross roads as far as the future of the Silverton Northern efforts go. We are on hold as I recover from a stroke that happened two years ago. An awful amount of stuff has happened in those two years. We have seen only two trains in town behind steam this year and the rest of this year is in doubt. At the same time Silverton is seeing a building boom in new houses and we are over run with tourists, especially from Texas and Oklahoma. My business partner is working overtime to finish rooms at the Wyman Hotel because they are full. The county has banned all vehicles on the "lower road," and that is our projected route for the SN from Arastra Gulch to Howardsville. The county commissioners control most of the right-of-way and have told us to come back when we are ready to discuss the railroad. The people who ride ATV's and the like have torn up most of the county roads especially the road to Animas Forks to the point that we may have another election to decide their fate. This is such a bad dream of a year that we are just trying to survive it and limp into the future. So far we have only two cases of confirmed Coronavirus in the county so as locals we are fortunate. There's a new crop of locals who are young and not that interested in our heritage, so anything like the SN becomes a challenge. The reason for the SN is still valid. We still have some funds available so we are still open to funding ideas.