Hello Folks, A couple of comments:
When we make a decision at the GLRR, Inc., it is a team decision including Dave Ropchan, Lindsey & Rosa Ashby, and Leah and Mark Greksa. We all had every intention of operating the Loop into the future and I believe most folks understand that. However, during contract negotiations, we were presented with terms from the CHS that were non-negotiable. These terms simply didn't meet our long-term goals of preserving the railroad into the future.
When it became apparent that there was a lack of qualified bidders who even owned any 3-foot gauge steam equipment, Leah and I met with our attorney in Golden, 4-days prior to the CHS announcement that they were intending to award the bid to Railstar. We had our attorney contact Mr. Rod Wolthoff, of the CHS to again make it clear that we wished to continue operating the railroad for the CHS because they were still under no obligation to follow through with the RFP. Mr. Wolthoff was contacted by our attorney, Friday, August 13th and was to get back to us. My letter then followed on the 17th which we chose not to make public. (http://www.savethetrain.org/id23.htm) On August 17th, I received a phone call from Jason Blevins of the Denver Post letting us know that they had chosen Railstar to operate the Loop.
As for Mr. Behrens, over the years there has been very little contact between him and our company. Although he is vehemently opposed to our progressive politics and aggressive marketing, which has helped build ridership to support this railroad, there are bigger issues here more important than Mr. Behrens. Thanks to Kerry Ann, we have received numerous correspondences between Mr. Behrens and his superiors at the CHS that misrepresented our company and were written clearly in an attempt to discredit our employees hard work and our company’s vision of preserving railroad history.
We run a company in which we wish to give our employees the freedom to make decisions based on their expertise. What the CHS presented us would have taken away any freedom we had to run this railroad in the manner that has proven so successful. We have been fortunate in that we have excellent employees with a passion for railroading, coupled with a team of managers who meet challenges head-on and move the industry forward. It is a very difficult time for all of us at the Loop and emotions are running high. The most difficult part of all is losing such talented people, most of which have been with us for a great many years.
Again, we wish all of you the best regardless of your opinion and appreciate this open forum. We wish Railstar the best in their efforts to carry on what we have enjoyed building.
Sincerely,
Mark Greksa
Leah Greksa
