Rod, first let me say that I'm really not trying to pick a fight with you here. I expect that if we could sit down and chat over a coal-smoke scented morning cup of coffee in Chama, we'd find we agree far more than we disagree. That said, however...
One of my least favorite corporate-speak expressions of recent times is "think outside the box". Sorry, but there's
ALWAYS a box, and blue-sky, wild brainstorm thinking is actually the easy thing to do. Most "I think the RR should..." discussions here tend to fall well outside that good ol' metaphorical box. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying - there's value to a measure of unfettered brainstorming, but when all is said and done, there's still always a box.
What's hard is to truly understand what the absolute (as opposed to the generally perceived) limits really are, figure out what perceived limits can be pushed, and how far, and then to
THINK CREATIVELY WITHIN THOSE REAL LIMITS. This kind of thinking is what really makes things happen.
In my last corporate marketing job, we began to call these immutable limits "gravity", to distinguish them from the theoretical corporate "boxes" that can be pushed. This kind of silliness, folks, is why I'm relieved to be out of the Fortune 500 marketing world.
In this case, I still have to argue that your plan is very much blue-sky thinking in its specifics, and may well be outside what's reasonably achievable. Expecting something like a real "marketing plan" to be consuming resources on a specific idea like this today is, well, unrealistic.
What excites me about the track work and subsequent speed improvements (which I think we all agree are desirable and achievable), is the increased flexibility the RR will have to get creative. In other words, the box does in fact grow bigger. What's less clear at this stage, however, is how big the new box becomes, and what the best plan is for taking advantage of this increased flexibility. There are all kinds of options, and they're hardly limited to "gotta get to San Juan speeds and run 4 trains/day". At this point what the RR should be working on (and I dare say almost assuredly IS working on) is exploring the best ways to exploit that flexibility in both the near and long terms.
John West said it best when he said you're making a lot of untested assumptions, Rod, and those assumptions are hardly going to be universally accepted. If you're just trying to get people to consider alternatives, that's great, but say so rather than presenting your ideas as the one true path that the RR should be working towards, while casually dismissing others' creative thinking.
I hope to see a lot of scenarios looked at and tested, and plans put in place to take advantage of the changes in both the short and long-terms. Any changes are most likely to be evolutionary in nature, so the short term is just as important. Given what we've been seeing from the current team, I have great optimism that they'll be on top of this stuff to the greatest extent possible.
Ack! Too long as usual. Verbosity is my middle name.
Scott
