Re: Practice What you Preach
| June 27, 2005 06:46PM |
practice what I preach eh....well here goes
Let me see here jsut what *did* CHS do?
1)The land and the mining claims were donated to them in the late 50's and by the early 70's when they were approached by the Ashbys and company they hadn done squat with it.
2) the Historic and now gutted , Silver Plume depot was saved not by the CHS but by the Loveland ski partol that used to use it as a domratory then paid to have it moved out of the way of I-70 and then gave it to CHS. so they didnt even save the building they now own.
3) They didnt do s**t to rebuild the grade, that was done by the USN SeaBees who were brought onboard not by CHS but by the efforts of Dave Ropchan. Infact CHS hinted rather loudly that no mention of the SeaBees ever be made when talkign abotu the rebuilding of the Loop goign so far as to hide the marker on the mine site so you have to take the tour to see itif you bother to look for it at all. Additinoally the original rail plates etc were donated, in place, by the UP and removed by GLR staff......not a single CHSer in sight in that either.
4) they did erect a marker on the north side of the Devils gate in 1948 to tell passing morotists abotu the loop.....in retrospect, it is quite fitting that they made it look liek a grave stone isnt it?
5) CHS never did finish their "Williamsberg of the West" which still sits half done never to be finished.
6) they never finished the devils gate Viaduct rock work to replicate the look of the original bridge.
7) CHS never marketed or participated in the operations save for being a pain in the ass Big Brother mentality for 20 or so of the 30 years, with the exception of the mine tour, which I find they tout far too much.......guys I hate to break it to ya but its 4 buildings and a hole in the mountian and its not what people came there to see.
the improvements oh yes what abotu the improvements that CHS did over the years? well they put god awful rock bolts into the historic retaining walls at the lebanon cut when injection material would have done just as well and they spent a small forutne on the cars and building in Silver Plume which is yet to be finished.....so I dont count that as anything to be gleeful about either in their supposed participation of the railroad.Not to mention the nice picnic tables at the mine stop that they never have used becaue the passengers arent there long enough, but hey, oversight is their middle name aint it?
9) they brought the 9 home to colorado.....yippie! then they let it sit for 16 years rotting away on a spur with explisite instructions that it not be touch by anyone, but we did anyway becasue it started to look like an eye sore so it was repainted on one side to its original colours. Funny they didnt give a damn abotu it until the needed to have a locomotive of their own to save their butts then had to buy another weaker engine to be able to keep their promice of steam on the loop in 2005.
10) They also didnt maintain anything but the mine and didnt do a very good job of it. they didnt make the web site, they didnt build the intenational reputation as an outstanding tourist destination, they didnt restore coaches for operation on the line, they didnt acquire any of the working engines on the property, they didnt, market it, they didnt create the internal reservations and communications systems in short they didnt *do* anything but pat themselves on the back for 30 years of other peoples labours.
so Jack, I do give credit where it is due and where it isn't Unlike CHS.
enough proof for ya?
Let me see here jsut what *did* CHS do?
1)The land and the mining claims were donated to them in the late 50's and by the early 70's when they were approached by the Ashbys and company they hadn done squat with it.
2) the Historic and now gutted , Silver Plume depot was saved not by the CHS but by the Loveland ski partol that used to use it as a domratory then paid to have it moved out of the way of I-70 and then gave it to CHS. so they didnt even save the building they now own.
3) They didnt do s**t to rebuild the grade, that was done by the USN SeaBees who were brought onboard not by CHS but by the efforts of Dave Ropchan. Infact CHS hinted rather loudly that no mention of the SeaBees ever be made when talkign abotu the rebuilding of the Loop goign so far as to hide the marker on the mine site so you have to take the tour to see itif you bother to look for it at all. Additinoally the original rail plates etc were donated, in place, by the UP and removed by GLR staff......not a single CHSer in sight in that either.
4) they did erect a marker on the north side of the Devils gate in 1948 to tell passing morotists abotu the loop.....in retrospect, it is quite fitting that they made it look liek a grave stone isnt it?
5) CHS never did finish their "Williamsberg of the West" which still sits half done never to be finished.
6) they never finished the devils gate Viaduct rock work to replicate the look of the original bridge.
7) CHS never marketed or participated in the operations save for being a pain in the ass Big Brother mentality for 20 or so of the 30 years, with the exception of the mine tour, which I find they tout far too much.......guys I hate to break it to ya but its 4 buildings and a hole in the mountian and its not what people came there to see.
the improvements oh yes what abotu the improvements that CHS did over the years? well they put god awful rock bolts into the historic retaining walls at the lebanon cut when injection material would have done just as well and they spent a small forutne on the cars and building in Silver Plume which is yet to be finished.....so I dont count that as anything to be gleeful about either in their supposed participation of the railroad.Not to mention the nice picnic tables at the mine stop that they never have used becaue the passengers arent there long enough, but hey, oversight is their middle name aint it?9) they brought the 9 home to colorado.....yippie! then they let it sit for 16 years rotting away on a spur with explisite instructions that it not be touch by anyone, but we did anyway becasue it started to look like an eye sore so it was repainted on one side to its original colours. Funny they didnt give a damn abotu it until the needed to have a locomotive of their own to save their butts then had to buy another weaker engine to be able to keep their promice of steam on the loop in 2005.
10) They also didnt maintain anything but the mine and didnt do a very good job of it. they didnt make the web site, they didnt build the intenational reputation as an outstanding tourist destination, they didnt restore coaches for operation on the line, they didnt acquire any of the working engines on the property, they didnt, market it, they didnt create the internal reservations and communications systems in short they didnt *do* anything but pat themselves on the back for 30 years of other peoples labours.
so Jack, I do give credit where it is due and where it isn't Unlike CHS.
enough proof for ya?
Sorry, you can't reply to this topic. It has been closed.
488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.