The short trip clinker

As Earl said , the short trip was looked at , and there were a number of good reasons why it is not a workable idea . It would require more crews and and locomotives .The box cars could be utilized ,but a Pritchard pointed out ,the contract had (and I think still has)prohibitions against increased service on the Chama side . Another good reason was it could cut into the Osier lunch sales ,a profit center for the railroad . Also as Earl pointed out ,the tourist gets more confused the more options that are offered . I think that the short trip would work better if the patronage was high enough to justify it , like 80,000 riders or more annually . THe D&SNG put on the short afternoon train to Cascade Wye only when the ridership justified it, and the train runs only six weeks . A way around the equal service clause could be to run a restored MW02 behind the Antonito train and call the service a"train" . A Cumbres turn leaving at 11am and returning at 2 pm would catch riders who did not want to spend a whole day on the train(or a night in Chama or Antonito) ,and would allow riders time to get there in the morning from Taos ,Santa Fe or Durango and be back by dinner. Considering the status of the railroad today ,such conjecture is out of the question ,and may be for many years to come .