Luck

I too lament the passing of the San Juan.
One wonders what Perlman could have done if he had used the same energy to encourage local traffic that he used in abandoning the narrow gauge circle.
How about rail service still in existance to Crested Butte with trains lead by standard gauge six-axle diesels?
How about Four Corner’s Navajo coal being moved by unit coal trains from Farmington to Durango to Alamosa via Wolf Creek Pass and Cumbres not having rail and the grade being slowly eroded away? D&RGW had a study about standard gauging to Durango via both Cumbres and Wolf Creek. As I recall, I read about it in the CRRM Annual about the Creede Branch. Imagine today’s Cumbres as either like the current La Veta pass (standard gauged and realigned) or Boreas Pass (little left for the non-railfan archiologist).
On the other side of the coin, what if Perlman had come a little earlier and been more agressive? How about the abandonment of all D&RGW narrow gauge about the time C&S abandoned the South Park?
These alternate histories did not happen (fortunatly), but it makes me feel how lucky we are to be able to ride Cumbres and the Animas Canyon today on "original" trackage.
Although we were not lucky enough to save the San Juan extension, with minor changes in history, we’d either have no narrow gauge in the San Juans or only short reconstructions.
I lament not having seen Bob Richardson’s narrow gauge, but I am thankful for being able to experience something like it on the C&TS and D&SNG.