Hi Dave,
As a frequent participant in photo charters, the biggest issue with chasers is keeping them (and their vehicles) out of the shots that the paying participants are trying to get. I frankly could not care less what kinds of free photos the chasers get, just as long as I get what I paid for......meaning a clean photo, without the 4WDs parked in the weeds next to the track. Even if the charter group (it is usually a private group running these things, not the railroad) was OK sanctioning chasers who had contributed something, the problem is keeping them under control. On the charter, we have photo lines, which are designed to ensure that everyone gets a good shot and that we don't have people in orange tee shirts wandering around in the field of fire. On the charter, the organizer makes sure everyone is in acceptable positions before he/she brings the train. The problem with the chasers is that there is no organizer, and everyone has different ideas......sometimes radically different ideas. Some chasers will cooperate with and respect the charter folks.....while others will pack .45s in their belts and insist they have a right to be anywhere they want, even if that totally messes up the planned shot.
All I ask as a charter patron is that chasers give some consideration to the folks who funded the train. I don't know what the 2018 prices are, but in recent years, it has been costing about $10,000 per day, per locomotive to run an NG charter. Want a 2-engine Cumbres turn? Figure $20K per day. Unless we can get about 45 people to plunk down about $1,000 each, there is no train to photograph.
This is one of the reasons why most charters today don't run the 4% out of Chama. With most of the railroad visible from Highway 17, and most charters advertised well in advance, the result is bedlam on Highway 17.....and in the future, perhaps a sky full of drones. I don't foresee any of the railroads doing a pure chase charter, simply because the cost is too high, and the probability of recovering that cost isn't great. Also, on a charter, the railroad has liability releases from all of us. They don't have that when people elect to chase.
/Kevin Madore
