There has been a lot of hard feelings about the GTL,Inc and CHS and Railstar has gotten pulled into it.
At the risk of opening old wounds, I would like to suggest that the CHS/Ashby coalition was able to get the loop rebuilt. Although they are no longer involved with the Loop, I think that it would be entirely appropriate to have some plaque honoring their contribution to the reconstruction of the loop.
If there is one there already, then I am way behind the times and appologize for the post (and will remove it).
I am including the text from an article about them in the May-June 1986 L&RP magazine that made me conclude that they should be so honored.
Doug vV
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Lindsey and Rosa Ashby, General Managers of Colorado's Georgetown Loop Railroad, have rightfully earned the title "pioneer." Like the pilgrims or the settlers of America's western frontier, the Ashbys knew they could improve their lot - so they made the decision to change their lives. While they haven't crossed a vast expanse of ocean or open country, they have forged into an area in some ways equally unexplored: the world of tourist railroad operation.
The Ashbys didn't intend to be pioneers. When they began married life in the early 1960s Lindsey was an oil company executive.
Rosa, a teacher. But changes were brewing. Lindsey relates, "I had just finished getting an advanced degree after what seemed like years of night school. Of course. I expected that after my effort things would happen, my life would change. But no reward appeared. So we made a conscious decision to truncate our careers, and looked around for other goals.
For the first time, they encountered the unknown territory. "We looked over the Central City (the Colorado Central Narrow Gauge Railway in Central City, CO) and talked about rebuilding a train to run on the line. But we really didn't know how to go about doing it-we didn't know what to do with our ideas.' They also began to get a sense of the risks involved. Lindsey speaks: "Ninety-five percent of the land the Central City ran across was made up of mining claims, which meant it had originally been acquired by trespassing. It was difficult to get maps and legal descriptions - we had to get our information 'through the back door'. Then, to prove we had a stake, we sold our house to raise money to buy the claims - to be credible with town governments, we had to have something at risk besides the idea. And it looked like a large risk - the risk of failure. which is a bigger risk than money." Rosa chimes in, "But no one knew the emotional risk at the time..." Lindsey concludes, "We had to ask ourselves: Do we want to continue? We decided we would rather go ahead and risk failure - face whatever. It would be better to have risked doing it than to spend the rest of our lives wondering 'What if?'"
So they began their journey. In 1967 they obtained franchises to operate the CCNG between Black Hawk, CO and Central City. The next year they purchased two locomotives in El Salvador, moved one to Central City (the other would follow, but not until 19i2), constructed a half-mile of track, and opened their excursion line. But after all this preparation, they only had 10 days left in the short Colorado operating season. They became quickly aware of the realities involved in their new business. Lindsey explains. "We were $20.000 in debt at the end of 1968. But we've survived by never risking more than we could make up at the end of the year-although we've teetered on it. Central City helped us-it covered our mistakes while we were learning the business. And we've made every classic blunder a small business can make; many of them twice, I'm sorry to say." Rosa adds, "We've borrowed money from any relative who had more than was, necessary to survive. And we've paid them back, but it's been on a month-by-month basis over the years." Lindsey continues, "Until recent years expenses came out of our own pocket, and we took no salaries."
The financial situation taught them one of their toughest lessons. "As individuals in this business, we don't want to be told by other people `how to do it'; we want to do it our
selves. But we also have to make a profit - we don't have the backing of a non-profit status or a club composed of many contributors:' Lindsey comments. But they were able to find a balance between these two extremes through their work in Georgetown. In 1973, they approached the Colorado Historical
Society to become the concessionaires of the Georgetown Loop Railroad. CHS at the time had been doing minor restoration work to the line. Lindsey and Rosa felt they could offer valuable assistance to bring the Loop back to full operation. CHS agreed, and the two groups decided to join forces - a boon for the Ashbys: "With the loop, we are to some extent subsidized - we just don't have an operating subsidy. We found we needed a 'marriage of private and public'; as individuals, we just couldn't afford the type of investment necessary:"
After two years of work, the Georgetown Loop Railroad opened in 1975; until 1981, the Ashbys managed both railroads. Then came the decision to close Central City. As Lindsey tells it, "Georgetown had more economic potential - at Central City, we kept hoping that something would change to make it worthwhile. Georgetown was also more attractive from the start because CHS owned the one right-of-way; we didn't own any of the rights-of-way at CCNG. Too, we finally became respectable - no one really appreciated the amount of work that went into keeping that half-mile of track at Central City operating.” So they traded a small portion of their individuality for financial backing-major projects are funded while the Ashby carry on the work of operating the railroad. Far from enabling them to settle. however. this partnership with CHS has become merely another part of the pioneering journey, bringing with it new risks. Lindsey relates. "Even the construction of the 'High Bridge' (the Loop's famed "Devil's Gate Viaduct,' rising 95' above the valley floor) hasn't brought 'the end of the rainbow.' The increase in passengers has meant increased costs: maintenance. fuel. wages, insurance. And there's a greater danger of passengers being injured on a piece of equipment. We still have to ask ourselves, 'Will there be enough return to compensate.'" Despite the hardships, they have found "It's the way of life that the trains are part of... not only moving a locomotive... but putting together the financial package that made it possible."
Despite the hardships, they have found what they were seeking. "We didn't accept the normal routes open to us;" Rosa said. "Lindsey could have continued moving up the 'corporate ladder; but we felt our lifestyle in Colorado was more important to us than a job promotion which would've taken us to Texas.' Lindsey adds, "It's doing something you enjoy and making money at at - going out into your hobby or interest area and forming a business. In the corporate track, you have no control over your life-and what is a small business but control?"
Individuality is obviously dear to Lindsey and Rosa; do they have any 'words of wisdom,' then, to offer other pioneering preservationists? Lindsey declares, "I don't have to give them advice - I can see the energy and enthusiasm they have. I could sit them down, but they wouldn't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about - you have to be there. They have different problems than when we were starting. But they're out there; they're going to do it:" Rosa agrees: "They don't have to understand what they're in for. It's a reality they don't need to know-that they might fail - but they've got to try in order to find that out. Whatever they do today will be much more difficult-costs have escalated, there are fewer engines around. But wed say. 'Go for it!"' Lindsey adds. "It's also always possible to build on someone else's failures-as we've built on our own. It's the dream that keeps you going.”
Lindsey and Rosa Ashby know well the pure satisfaction to be had from following that dream. As Rosa puts it, "Life is so much richer for having done this than if Lindsey had gone to work every day and brought home a large paycheck at the end of the month:" Lindsey concurs. "It's the way of life that the trains are part of-all the neat things that have happened, all the obstacles overcome. It's not only moving a locomotive from Portland, but putting together the financial package that made it possible, making contacts, seeing it unloaded, watching the crankshaft turn over for the first time after we'd been working on it for three weeks - the thousands of things I don't consciously think of that make up the rewards. I know I can now answer for myself the question 'Was it better to have tried?' Definitely - even if we fail yet.'
