It is a shame that so much heat in the discussion over "freeloaders" could be averted if people would just remember their mannors. The my shot is all I care about folks are really the cause of the frustration I am reading here.
From my perspective I think that without the charter operators and their participants, and their money, NONE of the historic car fleet would get a chance to run. They should have the best locations and conditions as their money made the special train possible. The rest of the non-paying chasers need to give them their due.
Having come out to work on the CATS for nearing my second decade I can also say that the members of the Friends can probably match the charter participants for money spent coming to Chama and Antonito to bust our asses for free for a week(s) at a time to help make what you see possible. (Why Bob Conry came out in May and just went back to Calif at the end of Sept, howz that for dedication?) I don't know of one team leader who hasen't spent days and most of the time their own money buying materials that they will need to complete their summer work session projects. I can speak only for myself as one of the grunts, but I get a buzz seeing one of my projects show up in some of the photos being posted on the internet.
The people who are driving down the road and come accross the special and stop and take a photo are really not the problem as they are probably just shooting from nearby their cars and to me that is good PR for the railroad as they will probably share their photos with their friends and that is free advertising for the R/R.
I highly doubt that either the Friends or the people just driving down the road are the cause of the problems being stated here. BUT>>>>>>>>
The group of people who plan to come out to shoot photos of the special train, who can not afford, or refuse to contribute to help cover the costs of running the special charter, and get so carried away that they forget their mannors are probably the group that is causing the rest of us heartburn here. NOW, what are some workable solutions on how to deal with that group, while it can't be elliminated, at least kept from interfearing with the charter participants in their trip? Ideas?
