You may criticise the ICC or PUC, but one strong factor in their decisions is called something like "public need and necessity." These operations are called Public Utilities for a reason and that aside from making money for their owners, they likewise have an obligation to serve the public, be it freight or passenger service. In return, they get free access across public lands as a major benefit--much of the Silverton line (about 33 miles) operates on a right-of-way that is federally owned and they pay taxes only on the improvements. The D&RGW's attempt to sell the Silverton branch to the Helen Thatcher White Foundation in 1959 was denied (April 23, 1962 was the decision date) by the ICC because the line was showing an operating profit and prior to the decision date had been carrying a fair amount of freight into Silverton for the reopening of the Sunnyside Mine. The structure of the White sale would not have worked in my opinion--they had no idea what they might have gotten into.
Movie action slacked off by the late 60s and I'm not aware of anything significant in the 70s. Improved ridership came from a number sources, and we on the NGDF like to think movies, railfans, etc were the prime movers, but after living here for so many years, I see improved highway transportation, concentrated advertising by local businesses and the chambers of Commerce, plus state efforts as being maybe as important. The one way to kill a line is to destroy the business, The Sunnyside Mine was shuffled off to the Rio Grande Motorways and after about 1961, their rail traffic into Silverton was near zero, so the Grande was setting the stage for another shedding effort. They made a show of faith by developing Rio Grande Land (Jan. 10, 1963 was the announcement date by the Grande for Rio Grande Land) but from the information I have that operation operated at a loss in the 1960s. Passenger traffic continued to increase (the second train ran for the first time on July 6, 1963), the line continued to show profits from the rail operation, so the 1970 flood provided a great escape opportunity. There were a number of efforts to buy the line by locals, and one unsuccessful one that I got involved in. So we weren't sitting on the front porch watching the parade go by. When Bradshaw appeared, the Grande assigned Jim Mayer and other operating people in Durango to work with Bradshaw and in turn Jim contacted me to be the Silverton contact. Charlie knew the value of having local support and in several conversations with him, I felt that he had the desire and means to make a purchase successful.
The Grande predicated its asking price based on "future cash flows." They assumed a 5% per year growth in net income, and came up with an asking price of "around $2.4 million," and that was in their prospectus to potential buyers in 1971. In subsequent years in the 70s, they sold off most of the Rio Grande Land Company properties which included the land that the present day Double Tree Inn sits on, thus they started cashing in their chips well before Bradshaw showed up and my understanding is that he paid $2.2 million for what was left. Some of the most significant and substantial improvements to the line were made by Bradshaw and when he sold to First American Railways the price had climbed to around $16 million. When First American was headed to its multi million dollar bankruptcy, with the failure of the Florida Fun Train, the corporation sold the Silverton to its present owner, and First American officer, Al Harper. Al subsequently refinanced his purchase and got rid of note holders Bradshaw and Bank of America by refinancing through the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, so CHFA is the current note holder on the D&S. This transaction is a matter of public record and is open for all to read at both the La Plate County and San Juan County courthouses. And should by some unfortunate turn of events that CHFA should take control of the D&S, it would come under State of Colorado ownership. And guess what? Colorado has something called the Railroad Authority Act passed in 1969 that states "The purpose of this act is to provide a method for the acquisition and operation of any railroad of historical and scenic importance in Colorado, to promote the public welfare by encouraging and facilitating the use of the recreational facilities in the remote areas of the state inaccessible by other routes, and by preserving, as a living history museum for future generations, a mode of transportation which helped in the development of the territory and state." So by wild chance, the D&S could be operated by the state of Colorado which just happens to be the joint owner and operator of the C&TS by reason of the 1969 Railroad Act.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2018 09:55PM by Fritz Klinke.
