Clear Creek Courant: Georgetown Loop set to Roar Friday

The Clear Creek Courant has an article up describing how the Loop is expecting to home today. Here's the link to it:
[www.clearcreekcourant.com]

To me, the first highlight of the article is a paragraph describing the delayed opening's impact on the 'Railroad and Mining Day's festival:

Several merchants grew frustrated after Railstar and the Colorado Historical Society announced only three days before Memorial Day weekend that the railroad would remain closed until June 15. By that time, all ['Railroad and Mining Days'] promotional materials had been sent out advertising the Loop. The event attracted only a quarter of the traffic compared to last year, and several Front Range visitors showed up expecting a train ride.

The article also describes the passenger-hauling capacity of #12:
The steam engine can carry 220 passengers each trip with its six cars.

CHS's expenditures are also noted:
For fiscal 2006, the Colorado Historical Society spent $161,451 over its $10.5 million budgeted. Over the winter, CHS spent about $400,000 on off-season maintenance of rolling stock, track and site upgrades.

Finally, the article includes this intriguing tidbit:
The society has also purchased two covered, heated coach cars in hopes that they will be ready this summer to extend the season in the fall.

I find the economics of tourist railroading intriguing, so I probably pay too much attention to the numbers. How does the maximum load of 220 passengers per run compare to the passenger loads that the GLRR, Inc. locomotives are capable of hauling?

I also hope they are successful at extending the season since it would be great to see #12 running late in the fall, when she will likely encounter snowfall, making some really cool images. [I figure that, sometime during my lifetime, #12 will end up back in Hawaii and the pictures of her running through Colorado snow will be an interesting part of her life story.] However, could extending the amount of time the railroad runs 220-passenger load trains be a case of 'losing money on each sale, but making it up on volume'?

--
Chris Webster
[www.speakeasy.org]