Sometimes crisis and hard times make management rethink the way things are being done to meet the needs of their customers and stay in business. By example Victor Miller had to make some hard choices in order to keep the RGS afloat during his tenure, depression times were tough, calling for creative thinking and action...
Looking at the 3 parties involved in the C&TS, the bi state RR commission, the operator, and the Friends; perhaps this would be a good time to rethink why each is located where they are. We have the Commission located in Antonito, the operator based in Chama, and lastly the Friends are in Albuquerque. All 3 need to interact on a daily basis, share information and oversee organizations all working to preserve, operate and economically benefit the area served by the RR.
So why don’t they all just get together in the same building (which IMHO would logically be in Chama, NM) to pool their resources?
It has been my experience that amazing things can and do happen when people who work together can collaborate in a face to face work environment. Work flow, priorities, and a whole host of interrelated working relationships are improved and most importantly the end customer gets a better product or service. Now if we were talking about 3 huge organizations the task might be daunting, but honestly how many people are we really talking about? Commission staff = 3?, Operator management =< 5 and Friends = 3? Now each organization has many more people who they rely upon, i.e. commissioners = 4, the operator has line supervision and maintenance, operating dept. etc, Friends have directors and committees etc. etc. but they all need access to much of the same basic shared information and all 3 managements. In fact all 3 are contractually joined at the hip by the Triad agreement to work together as a team. Interestingly Tim Tenant by stepping into the breach for the Friends in taking over management of the operating entity may have already set the wheels in motion for just such a realignment of the organizations. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon, rocket scientist or even a high priced Denver consultant to see that the current status quo doesn’t work. Meeting once a month for a commission meeting is not the way to run a railroad.
Rod Jensen
P.S. Just so my little friend over at the goat can have something to pontificate about I suggest that he investigate locations for this new Chama Triad HQ which could include a historical recreation of the former sheep shearing building adjacent to the Chama engine house. The head Chama goat can then be used to test the efficiency of the recreated dipping troughs as I am sure the various management representatives will find this feature to be especially useful in his regard.