Re: Another summary of the negotiations

Another designer of note was Durango architect George King who did the design work for the D&SNG's rebuilt roundhouse and I think he may have designed the shop building as well. It seems he neglected to note that the new roundhouse bays/tracks had to come off from the same radius point as the center of the turntable. It wasn't until track was being laid that they discovered that the new roundhouse addition was headed off in some other direction. Bradshaw relieved Mr. King of his duties and I'm not sure how much of already built structure had to be altered to fit reality. Let non-railroaders in and they screw things up, especially architects who foist off on the rest of us their impression of how things should look.
My understanding of Bell's role in CHS is that he runs pretty much as he pleases, being in charge of all the historic properties owned by CHS. He ignores the very basic rehabilation standards, like the Secretery of Interior's Standards, and makes repairs and changes to some very significant historic properties without much of any oversight. Staffers I have talked to are upset with what he does to these structures, with Bell citing expediency and limited budgets as excuses for inadequate or inappropriate maintainence techniques.