Jack, Please Don't Drop Out On Us

Jack, your opinions and knowledge were important to the C&TS back in the Kyle/Joe Vigil/John Bush days and they are as important as ever today.
As for locomotives once the 489 is extensively rebuilt over this winter (virtually everything, not just what's necessary to meet FRA Part 230 Form 4) the C&TSRR will have clawed its way back to four operational locos. Next to be extensively rebuilt is likely to be 463, but it would not be available until the 2008 season at the earliest (appropriations requests to the two states have now been submitted -- that's the kind of lead time that is required to get the funding and do the work).
Most people feel that going beyond five locomotives will be a function of customer demand, so who knows; might be 2010 before a sixth loco rebuild is justified.
As for locomotive shop capacity, six years ago the Commission applied to CDoT for funds (mostly from Federal T-21 sources) to expand the Antonito Shop. Whether one agrees or not with that decision, that's what the Commission chose to do (probably because CDoT was optimistic about being able to get the money). Well this past year, preliminary approvals finally came through -- $400,000 is being made available. The Antonito shop crew has already done one boiler and it has a decent drop pit (as you know), but of course, real machining has to be done in Chama over the mountain.
As for the Friends car repair facilities those really are just for restoring historical rolling stock -- no revenue equipment. And, as past treasurer of the Friends and the RGRPC I can assure you that the only Commission monies that go to the Friends restoration of historical equipment is for materials.
By way of contrast, in 2000 and 2001, under the same kind of lease as Kyle had, the RGRPC spent $720,000 of its own working capital on fixing the locomotive fleet, plus the Friends donated $577,000 towards the locomotives, and the states chipped in a total of $714,000 toward locomotives and upgrading the electrical in the Chama Shop. In other words a total of 2 million dollars got spent in those two years trying to set things right after the Bartholomew years. Everyone pitched in the Friends, RGRPC, and the states.