Bill,
Thank you for an insightful response that sheds some light on what is going on.
If I am reading it right, two important facts can be gleaned from it;
1) The three historic gondolas were destroyed in order to provide trucks for newly constructed rider cars (oddly reminiscent of 50 some odd years ago when the D&RGW was looking to increase capacity on the Silverton train and destroyed coaches 284 and 307 for their trucks. Luckily the CRRM was then focused on preservation and bought the carbodies so that two generations of future museum supporters could experience riding in a real narrow gauge passenger coach (284) )
2)The three gondolas “needed” to be destroyed because the Museum contractually obligated itself to do something that it could not do with the equipment that it possessed. Essentially the Thomas and Polar Express events held over the past decade or so have only been possible through the use of Lindsey Ashby’s former Georgetown Loop passenger cars and locomotives, which the Museum has never owned.
From these facts, I would raise the following question;
In late 2013 Mr. Ashby placed the former Georgetown Loop passenger cars for sale. The total asking price for the 9 car train that had been used by the CRRM since the end of 2004 was, if I recall correctly, around $72,000.00. Given how quickly these cars were purchased by other TOURIST RAILROADS, it would seem that the price was more than fair. This train was at the museum, in service and ready to go. No transportation costs would have been incurred and no interruption of service would happen. As an added bonus, this train was a perfect match for the Museum’s mission of preserving Colorado Narrow Gauge history. Yet, for some reason, CRRM leadership chose to pass on this excellent opportunity and instead has spent far more than Mr. Ashby was asking buying and transporting other equipment, modifying historic cars from its collection and out and out destroying other cars in order to meet these “contractual obligations”.
Why did the Museum leadership choose to pursue the course of action that it has?
Not to be disrespectful, but everything you bring up only confirms the points I raised in my original post as well as the fact that the CRRM’s main focus right now is for profit passenger capacity, not historic preservation, interpretation and education. Events such as Thomas and the Polar Express are can be a good thing for the Museum, unless they are taken too far. At this point, they have been taken too far as every other function of the museum appears to be subservient to the desire and (self created) need to get more butts in seats. While the Museum may not have lost its original purpose (yet) it has certainly lost sight of that purpose.
Jason Midyette
