I don't think much if any of this information was ever public as the financials of the D&S are not public. Once it went into private ownership, we never heard of any direct financial information. The railroad was under PUC control while under Bradshaw and certain reports are required to be filed with the PUC. Unlike the D&RGW, where detailed information can be found with sufficient digging, I think much or all of the filed information with the PUC from the D&S was priveleged information. Even at the public hearing with the PUC upon his application to buy the railroad, held in Durango, which I attended, Bradshaw refused to disclose his financial information in public, and the hearing examiner agreed to take that information as priveleged information after the hearing. The question was if Bradshaw had the financial ability to complete the purchase and then have the ability to operate the railroad.
As to the work done, Bradshaw had already commissioned a thorough engineering study to determine the conditon of the infrastructure as part of his due diligence. He knew at assumption of ownership what was critical and what needed to be scheduled. A first priority was to strengthen several bridges to accomodate the 480s and 490s. This also included some rock work along the line in several places. Other work included raising the valley line to get it above flood plain levels, the catching up of work the D&RGW had deferred on roadbed and rail structure, and the like. That first summer it seemed like the railroad came alive as additional trains were scheduled and the trains ran up through Thanksgiving Day weekend to Silverton.
Bradshaw instituted additional trains, developed the Cascade Canyon wye, started diesel service in the guise of the Animas River Railway, and brought the passenger count to highs which have not been seen since the early 1990s. After the roundhouse fire, he wrote the checks to rebuild the roundhouse, build a new shop facility, and then to equip it with machinery. He was very proud of getting the South African quartering machine out of SA and into the US at a time when trade with SA was forbidden. Bradshaw brought in freight cars from several sources, including the stock cars and additional passenger cars. He built a new car shop and spent the money to rebuild several derelict cars including one or two that Sam Bass had owned in Silverton that ended up with Bob Shank, if I recall correctly. He took ownership of the B-2 and B-3 from non-railroad ownership. He did an amazing amount of work in a few short years, but he had the financial ability to do it. But not long after the rebuilding of the roundhouse, he started to tell us privately, and in public, that the years of endless blank checks was coming to an end and that he expected the railroad to operate on its own without continued subsidy. There was a time when faced with losing the Silverton depot to another buyer--he had a first right of refusal with the historical society--a check for $50,000 was hand delivered to Silverton a couple of hours before his time ran out. But he had no problem writing checks like that. When he grew tired of flying by commercial jet from Orlando with a layover in Texas, he bought (or leased) his own jet and hired his own pilot (s). Thus, when the roundhouse burned, and he was staying on the second floor of the General Palmer, he make a quick assessment of the fire, then got his pilot and they left Durango to get out of the possible limelight--he was a fairly private person.
There may have been some money problems later in Charlie's ownership. I recall a freeze in Florida that really damaged the citris crop and several weeks later I was talking to Charlie's wife Marie about what happened and she said they were hit pretty badly by the freeze. Charlie walked up on the tail end of that conversation and corrected Marie by saying that everything was fine. End of conversation. But Charlie also spent well--he hired the entire Delta Queen for several days cruise and had his entire extended family along for the ride. When his father's estate went to probate, at the time, it was the largest single inheritance in the history of the state of Florida. This was a tid-bit that Barry Spear, the Durango Herald reporter who covered the entire sale, came up with in doing background checks on Bradshaw in Orlando. Barry worked for me while an intern at the Silverton Standard, so when he started calling me if I knew anything, I had to keep quiet--what he found was all on his own, and currently he is a Durango attorney. I had many discussions and phone calls with Charlie, and worked with him for over a year before his name came up as a buyer for the Silverton branch, so I do have some insight into what and how he did things.
Fritz
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2011 12:42PM by Fritz Klinke.
