Good point. Except that they are requiring the insurance, only difference is the CHS will reimburse Railstar for the expense. In other words, Railstar has to have the insurance, but the CHS is paying for it.
Another point: Railstar is not performing most of the tasks outlined in the contract. The marketing/advertising, the gift shop set-up and sales, reservations program and website are now all being sub-contracted out to 800 pd. Gorillas- all hand-picked by CHS. (in the end, it will be interesting to see how many companies it takes to replace the previous operators!)
Railstar has brought next to nothing to the table so far, with the exception of Peter Gores. Even the #12 was purchased by CHS, not Railstar (Denver Post). Remember at one point when the CHS touted Railstar because they could build all the cars that they needed. Turns out Railstar had no intention of doing so, and is waiting in line to have another company do that work for them!
It seems as though Railstar's designation as the "concessionaire/operator" of the line is a bit of a farce.
As for the argument Steam v. Diesel, I have my own opinion, but the fact is, without a "primarily steam operated line" the CHS/Railstar contract is null & void. The CHS and Railstar understand this.
At the last LPCC meeting, almost all of the questions, including operational, were being answered by the CHS and not Railstar. Lee Behrens has taken it upon himself to decide which engines will run and why. He's the one that said they'd use the #9 for every run if they had to. Peter Gores response to that statement was that safety was his first concern. It may be that when this argument is had later on, that the only way for Railstar to win the argument on why an engine shouldn't run because of safety concerns, is that they will have to prove their concern. Otherwise, I suspect the CHS, who will be desperate to show revenue, will direct them to run it.
Interestingly, despite several Open Records Requests asking for access to the budget regarding the Loop from the CHS, I was told one doesn't exist. However, at the last LPCC, when locals were trying to convince the CHS to consider bankrolling a ticketing office in downtown Georgetown, they were told that the CHS has far exceeded their budget in transportation costs and other set-up costs and could not come up with $10,000 for a Georgetown ticketing office.
I also talked with Joe Bell about the 111's restoration. They are no longer seeking National Register designation (this would have required the CHS to list all of the Baldwins in existence in Colorado-including the ones owned by the previous operators- and then the NPS would rank them according to historic significance.) They are instead getting it legislatively financed-via State general fund. Does anyone out there know how many Colorado Baldwin's could have benefited from the NPS designation?