Back in 1993 my thinking was to run charters AFTER the rotary run that year. We already had 2-3 engines in Rio Grande left over from the end of year Craft trips in 1992. The Rotary operation would help support the charters, as a lot of guys would be there anyway. The appeal was to run freight trains in the snow. The original plan was to operated two Cumbres turns with multiple engines the first day, and a train to Antonito the second day. This was planed 2-3 days after the first day of Rotary Ops.
This is something that could be done in the future. The railroad or a charter operator could run the rotary for say 2 days, and sell tickets on a charter the third or fourth days. Ticket sales would be such that perhaps there would be enough to defray much of the expenses of the rotary, and maybe a few perks for ticket holders could be given on the day the rotary runs were made to Cumbres and beyond. Chaser passes could be sold as well, with some suggestions, or some other souvenir badge.
Example.
Thursday May ??? Rotary with 3 engines, Chama to Cumbres. 2 engines
returns to Chama, while Rotary and 1 engine remain
Friday May ??? Rotary continues from Cumbres to Osier
Saturday May ?? Freight train Charter Chama to Cumbres(twice in one day)
**** I selected two runs to Cumbres for a couple of reasons. First its possible the Rotary would not be finished between Cumbres and Osier, thus the line would not be open yet. However, Cumbres should be open and the wye would be operational. Two engines would be more spectacular
anyway.
Sunday May ???? Roundtrip Chama to Osier utilizing the Loop(if clear).
Mid-train helper Chama-Cumbres, Helper returns to Chama, single engine to Osier and Back, or send helper to Osier for Mid-train helper
Osier to Cumbres in the afternoon.
Sunday May ??? Optional afternoon train Chama-Cumbres and return. This would utilize engine that ran on the rotary, or helper that ran in the morning.
Someone suggested a plandampf scenario, so this would be somewhat like that. If another engine were available the Railroad could even sell short passenger train rides to the public.
There are three possible downsides to all of this
(1) The rotary cannot open the line, and thus the charters cannot run
(1997 the rotary only got to Los Pinos on day two)
(2) The railroad drainage is not good, or some other track issues prevents the full plan.
(1993 my charters were relegated to 8 miles from Chama do to soft roadbed near the state line)
(3) The crews are so beat from running the rotary that its difficult.
(1997 we were asked to postpone our charters for an extra day cause the crews were beat)...Since we only had 4 guys for that charter we could easily postpone, but if there were 50-100 people with tickets...????
The point here is that there are options, but given these are winter operations you have to realize things are not as easy as when its the regular season. Part of the costs have to be given to extra time the shop guys have to put in to prepare everything earlier than normal for these rotary runs, etc. Still some thought could be given to freight trains perhaps after the rotary runs are over. Notice I scheduled the freight charters for the weekend.
Greg
