In response to:
I think when Bartholomew ran the railroad he nearly destroyed the railroad because he deferred locomotive maintenance and track work--although he did get rider ship up and did have 5 loco's under steam at one time he didn't do what he should have to ensure long-term success. It's a shame to think about it and the railroad is just barely now getting back on its feet again.
I can’t speak for the railroads management directly after 1997. I was present for all the changes that happened when Kyle left and GB came to be operator. At the last years of Kyle they had an upper hand in a number of political situations. One major aspect that Kyle never got a good deal on was costs of maintaining the Railroad. The deal was always one sided with the operator responsible for maintaining the track. This coupled with law suits created from lack of workman’s comp, made for a high risk no chance for profit operation. The railroad was at the mercy of FEMA, and Lawyers. The insurance required a deductible that made it un reachable for any problems other than major liabilities and to my knowledge was never used. Money left from good years paid for lawyers and settlements in sometimes questionable lawsuits.
Their were programs that brought money in for capitol improvements from time to time. Some times ticket money paid to the states would be used for loco upkeep, shared payment for an air pump or shared payment for a loco axle. The commission paid for the Machine tools that were purchased in the “90’s” for the shop. But Kyle was responsible for the track. In the end they left.
This arrangement shouldn’t be left out of any talks about the welfare of the railroad and what happened after Kyle left.
When they left a BIG vacuum opened, an opportunity for both the commission and the friends to redistribute the politics of the triad. The commission became more interested in land purchase and less interested in car building or the costs of growing the railroad.
The Friends had lots of projects with all of the non revenue aspects of the railroad and gained much clout in receiving ticket moneys for there projects.
Maintaining the railroad at a level left by Kyle was nearly impossible before GB came along, let alone after the politics were reworked against what ever company took control. GB tried to combat this by growing the revenue fast. This is very expensive on the front end and risky as to weather it will pay off. GB in my opinion had less of a deal than Kyle had.
The maintenance did go into decline after I left as the railroad had no knowledgeable management personnel to look after it. I worked with the railroad for one year after Kyle left and tried to combat the changes that were coming about. I felt that the triad all needed to pull the rope in the same direction so that limited moneys could work the needed projects in unison rather than differing directions. I was very surprised to learn that the health of the railroad was the last thing the commission and the friends had on there agendas. At that time talk of difficulty maintaining the current level of operation was not a topic they had interest in hearing.
I wanted the triad to ALL spend money on a round house connected to the current Chama shops. So that all the locos could be out of the winter weather and available daily for maintenance. The stalls over the old retaining wall could be used by the friends for non revenue car projects and could remain shorter than the other stalls.
The current situation is testament as to the agendas. The states have built two shop facilities and paid for their completion, yearly maintenance and power & heating requirements. The Friends also now have two shops and will do the same. And the railroad will have to start yet another shop facility if it wishes to address problems with maintaining 5 or 6 engines.
The railroad can’t afford one shop on it’s own without state moneys supporting the winter session now days. Yet the railroad has 4 and will need 5.
It has been interesting to watch all this unfold over the last few years. Hopefully the Government and taxpayers will look at all of this with a blind eye and continue to supplement the railroad so that it doesn’t disappear.
I am sure that no discussion of this topic will go on as it has been deemed as a turd in the punch bowl.
I am not a current friend of GB as he was part of my leaving also, but as I have said before he was the new guy. I still don’t like to here people depict the problems of the railroad in a wrong way as correcting the problems will require understanding the problems.
Jack
