I cannot speak for whomever was in charge, but I can say that sometimes
there is more to things than meets the eye. Once I heard someone(a charter operator) state that he could not tell riders to chase the train, for liability issues. Imagine if it stated that in a trip brochure and there was a auto pile-up and someone was killed. The lawyers would be out in force and the said sponsor could be facing a lawsuit.
This is why in 1993 when I a couple of days of charters, I coughed up about $1500 and went through a NM law firm to set me up as a corporation. The name I chose was "Visions of Steam". I never renewed the corporation after the time limit was up, but it served its purpose in that it protected me as an individual and my family and business more than if I did not have it. Sad reality that we had to have it. All it meant was that the spare money we made and donated back to the Friends of the C&TS was that much smaller in the end.
The perfect photo charter is one where 1 person rents the train and does runbys when and where he wants. Of course you have to pay for everything, and you still are subject to engine breakdowns and any other unexpected problems.
As Michael Allen stated the trips are usually limited to a certain number due to room at locations, and price of the charters from the operator. Lets face it there are good spots on the C&TS and D&S that really are not suitable for more than a few people....thats just the way it is. The charter operator has to sacrifice something for the group based on many factors.
Greg Scholl
[
www.gregschollvideo.com]
PS One of the biggest problems on the C&TS is just the time it takes to cover the railroad from Antonito to Chama. If consider the crew time on is say 7am, and off is 7 pm. that really means you depart around 8 and get back off train by 6-6:30. So that leaves you 10 hours. Consider the trip without runbys takes 6-7 hours, you are left with 3 to 3.5 hours. If you stop for lunch, or servicing, that cuts into your photo time even further. So say you have 3 hours left, and you spend 30 minutes at each stop, you come up with 6 for the entire day!!!
slrg1744 Wrote:
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> While I did pay for two days of the trip
> (scheduling issues), as it turned out the
> passengers I met complained a lot about day one.
> The main complaint was they were told NOT to
> chase, but to ride out of Chama. While hindsight
> is nearly always 20/20, those that did chase
> apparently were able to score a lot of good shots,
> those riding were treated to only one runby.
>
> In all fairness, perhaps the tour leader should
> explain why instead of endless speculation. So,
> why were paying riders told they should not chase
> up the hill and leave their cars at the summit for
> a few days? Was security for parked cars an
> issue?
>
> Regardless, I agree with other posts that in the
> past most charter operators allowed or encouraged
> riders to chase up to the summit. Perhaps future
> operators may need to take note?
