Re: Public Safety

While I don't know about Railstar, CHS has already proven to be a foolish, unwise, and sad excuse for a historical organization. It killed a railroad...have no experience (and will not; they have someone else running it for them like they did before), and to boot...their principals have shown their lack of knowledge. Most of us know of the #9; others know the tractive effort, and have seen the photos of a delapidated, unreinforced lap-seam boiler with a patch on the crown sheet! Not exactly safe, efficient, or reliable equipment here...especially for regular service on such a railroad. Maybe if it was in decent shape, it could haul those 2 drop-bottom gondolas that CHS has acquired...but when was the last time in a book, video, or in person that you saw that few people on a Georgetown Loop train? Let the numbers show what this place once was.
I still cannot contemplate why anyone has *any* trust in, or respect for, the CHS and its abilities. If anybody does, then I think you've probably been brainwashed by inflated egos they've printed up. The Ashbys and their friends built this railroad, and there was no reason why it should be taken away. But it was, and it's too late to change this lunacy; the Georgetown Loop Railroad is nothing but a track and structures now; nothing more. In the tourist railroad world and steam preservation community, it's a figurative murderer; and I don't exactly think we'd hold any trust in a murderer. Preserving a few pieces of rolling stock or structures where the railroad is already gone isn't exactly much trust-instilling material here. Perhaps they'd be better suited to build a Crystal Palace museum elsewhere for all the cosmetically-restored (or decaying) displays across the state in a CSRM style...but knowing them, that would be corrupt, too.
Did I work for the Georgetown Loop Railroad at any time? No. Am I a Colorado resident? No. Am I capable or qualified of operating a railroad such as the Georgetown Loop? You've got to be kidding me!! These are simple opinions found in researching this entire story; though far more have delved further and deeper from the outside to get the truth about this story. Anyone who does their research knows who the culprit is; regardless of if the CHS is made to look like the 'good one' in this scenario.
Railstar is the only margin of hope for the future of the Loop; and from what it looks like, CHS isn't making anything easier on them. If CHS put their darn egos behind and told the truth..."No steam in 2005"...quit the rush job to get something going, or pushed back the opening date until they COULD open a proper railroad...Railstar would have much more of a chance, and the post-GLR Inc. scenario might be a lot different. But then again, this is the CHS we're talking about! CHS dug their own grave; and whatever is flung at them I'm sure is almost all deserved.