I guess the wise-ass reply to folks that want to know "what's up" is to suggest they attend the Commission meeting on 6/23 at Conejos at which all kinds of information about the C&TS is made available to the public.
That's how the Commission fulfills its obligation to keep the public informed, and for years the Commission has considered that sufficient. On the other hand, the operator CTSMC is a privately-held entity that has no obligation under its contract to the Commission to provide on-going information regarding the doings of the Railroad; it's busy running the railroad. That leaves the Friends, which also has no such obligation under its contract with the Commission to deal with the museum side of the C&TS, but do try to keep members informed on its web site about Friends activities and sometimes more. So all three groups tend to their knitting and leave the curious to rely upon postings on discussion boards by interested parties, some with axes to grind.
My own background has been in providing global financial market information
for a price. If the information is of value to others, sell it! Just being curious does not entitle anyone to information beyond what the Commission is required to disclose.
Having said that, what's to be done? Should the Commission contract with someone to be the town crier for the railroad? Maybe so; I'd sure appreciate it. Of course, when I go to web sites for other tourist/heritage railroads I don't find such info., but maybe the C&TS is a special case, unique as it is. But, what to do?
If the information has value, especially for those who love the C&TS but cannot get to Commission meetings or hang around the yard or local bars, then why not sell it? What would folks think of starting an official electronic subscription service that would provide paying subscribers periodic factual information of interest about what's going on at the C&TS operationally? Proceeds would go to paying the salary and costs of providing such a reporting service or maybe a full-blown blog that would also allow paying subscribers to comment. What might be a reasonable price: $25 a month? $50 a month? Any thoughts out there?
