True John, one or more other projects would have been better served than the missteps in all this. Where the CHS restoration funds have gone into whatever they have paid out is money the CHS fund awarded itself. I am sure there are other state funds that have been spent on other aspects of the Georgetown Loop, and those have been spent even under the first 30 years for a variety of purposes--some of it is appropriated money from the Genereal Fund of the state, but these discussions have revolved around the locomotive restoration efforts. It would be interesting to see the budget from both the State Fund (gambling money) and other appropriated funds.
The preservation community is upset about several of the locomotive grants in that the engine in question is not a historic Colorado engine and thus under the general guidelines, ineligible, but the Fund waived that in their quest to get that engine underway. The rest of us have to toe the line on the rules. I'm working on our 30th CHS Fund awarded contract that will take place this summer above Animas Forks, so I have a passing acquaintance with all this.