Thanks for the response and answer to the Big Horn Wye question.
When I see the huge amounts of money being charged for tickets on these so-called photo freights I would expect them to be as close to prototypical as humanly possible. Anything less than that would not get my money. I am finding today that more and more riders are caring less about authentic appearance of their train, and never seem to complain, therefore the sponsors don't make any changes. When one travels thousands of miles and spends gobs of money for these special events I want it to be better than just a train ride. After all I can get that on a regular scheduled passenger train for a lot less money. Now, I do understand the 315 and everyone else needs to make money on these things.
So, to turn this into a positive commentary here are two suggestions for next time.
(1) Run one or two days of correct looking photo specials for photographers. This means one caboose on the rear of the train. A 40's looking train will meet with the approval of the hardcore ticket buyers.
(2) Run another day with a quasi-authentic freight train like you did in the photos here. Cabooses where ever you want, and riders can enjoy the ride on a freight. Maybe a Cumbres turn would work for this.
(3) In place of number 2, or in addition to #2, why not just lower the price a bit and do a rider trip behind 315, with limited photo runbys.
Lets say you want to run a really nice prototypical freight from Antonito to Chama. So day 1 from Chama do Suggestion two or three, then the photo special the next day. This gets the engine to Antonito, gets revenue for the trip and provides the different ride for ticket buyers. If 315 cannot pull much to Cumbres, deadhead some freight cars for the Antonito-Chama portion to Cumbres, then on day 1 have 315 pull one coach and a caboose from Chama-Cumbres, pick-up the freight cars and head to Antonito. The coach can come back on a regular passenger train sometime. You could probably get 60 people on this train at around $200.00 a person. Then charge $300.00 for the Antonito to Chama photo feight, limited to 30-40 people.
Just some ideas.
Greg Scholl
