Steve et al -
IMHO, Xanterra's management are not entirely evil - they just didn't
think things through very well in regard to steam on the GCRy.
For example, per Johnny Coal, their operations at Yellowstone are first class. Xanterra is obviously trying to make money, which means they have to determine - or guess - what the public is looking for, and then provide it. (That is HONEST capitalism, and is fine by me. What I object to is DIS-honest capitalism - false advertising, selling contaminated food, bribing government officials to fudge contracts or inspections or - even worse - to allow monopolies and conglomerates that become "too big to fail", etc.)
The Xanterra folks are good at selling comfy lodges, natural beauty and scenic vistas to Environmental Tourists, but I'll bet they are totally clueless when it comes to selling Authentic History to Cultural and HERITAGE Tourists. The Environmental Tourist and Heritage Tourist markets overlap to some extent, but the latter requires a different approach and often a significant investment to restore a cultural or historic attraction to its optimum state. Fortunately, the steam locomotives of the GCRy can be refurbished fairly quickly, once Xanterra's "powers that be" catch on to the prize that they have serendipitously acquired.
Of course, it probably wouldn't hurt for those of us who are AAA members * to speed things up a bit by writing letters, making phone calls, and in general raising holy hell about this year's false advertising. Travel service brings in a good part of AAA's income, and once AAA upper management learns that their GCRy tour packages and associated AmTrak deals are in jeopardy of a 15%-25% (or more) drop in customers due to Xanterra's mis-directed -
and ignorant** - policies regarding their steam locomotives, things could turn around in a hurry
...
- Russ
* Auto Club, not Al-Anon
** Steam engines, especially when over-fired,
do produce more particulates than diseasels. And, because they are less efficient in producing ton-miles of transportation per gallon of fuel, steam locomotives produce proportionately more carbon dioxide than diseasels hauling the same train. But there are hidden environmental costs associated with diseasels in that their fuel must be refined a lot more, which uses energy and releases wastes. The biggest difference is that steam locomotives employ EXTERNAL cumbustion, essentially an open, atmosperic-pressure fire, whereas diseasels employ INTERNAL cumbustion - and at pressures considerably higher than that of an ordinary gasoline engine. As a result, steam engines produce almost ZERO oxides of nitrogen, whereas - due to the high pressures involved - a diseasel engine produces a great deal of oxides of nitrogen
*** from the natural components of the air that they 'breathe'. The only way to prevent this would be to use pure oxygen instead of air to mix with the diseasel's fuel - undoubtedly a prohibitively expensive proposition. (See the following post - [
ngdiscussion.net] - for a photo of a properly-fired hard-working steam locomotive.)
*** Oxides of nitrogen - NO and NO
2 - produce nitrous and nitric acids, respectively, when they mix with moisture in the air. NO and NO
2 contribute to the brownish color of smog, and are thought to be responsible for the damage to trees which allows pine bark beetles to get a foothold and for the gradual decomposition of statues and buildings due to "acid rain" - among many other problems.
p.s. If interested in some opinions regarding Historic Tourism in relation to the C&TS, please see [
ngdiscussion.net].
pps. Xanterra has the resources to lease ex-T&P #610 - IMHO an ideal engine for their GCRy branch-line operations - and convert her to burn a mixture of recyled veggie oil and bunker "C" (or whatever) once they come to their senses regarding steam power. Ex-ATSF #3751's 80-inch drivers are much more suited to main-line operations - like Belen to Trinidad over Raton
...
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2009 05:55PM by Russo Loco.
