By ERIN SMITH
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
CONEJOS - Grand Junction banker Lon Carpenter was elected chairman of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission Monday.
Carpenter is one of Colorado’s two members on the commission that operates the 64-mile narrow-gauge railroad running between Antonito and Chama, N.M.
Colorado’s other commissioner is water engineer Peter Foster of Durango. Foster was elected the body’s secretary.
New Mexico’s new commissioners are Randy Randall of Santa Fe, who is retired from hotel management, and J. Leonard Martinez of Albuquerque who is in management with Sandia Labs. They were elected vice chairman and treasurer, respectively.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson replaced the four prior commissioners with a new commission last month.
Carpenter said he knew the move was a controversial one. He noted that none of the commissioners has a railroad background. The four are all in areas unrelated to railroads.
Martinez said he hoped the mix would be complementary.
“Each is a little unique,” Martinez said, adding, “(the railroad) is not our railroad. It’s the community's.”
Randall said he is building a house in Chama and being on the commission is a way to be involved in his community.
“The commission has the best interest (of the railroad and community) at heart,” Foster said.
Nothing has been said officially why the upheaval occurred other than that the governors wanted to take a different direction. It was no secret to those attending the commission meetings on a regular basis that there was tension between the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Management Company, which was hired to manage the railroad, and three of the four former commissioners. The tension apparently escalated in the fall when the management contract was up for renewal.
Monday’s meeting began with a history lesson from the commission’s Executive Director Leo Schmitz, who has been involved with the body for most of the past 30 years. Schmitz gave the group the history of the tourist train, its contracts, and projects.
Schmitz has been the commission’s accountant since 1977, its executive director from 1981 to 2001 and 2005 until present.
The two states bought the line from Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in 1970 for a little more than $500,000 when the late John Love was governor of Colorado and former commission member David Cargo was governor of New Mexico. The saving of the railroad was a grassroots’ effort of a number of area residents including Colorado State Rep. Clarence Quinlan, father of one of the replaced commission members, Wayne Quinlan.
Schmitz said there is funding from Colorado for four capital improvement projects: rehabilitation of locomotive 489 (about $900,000), rehabilitation of tracks ($1.35 million), the addition of two bays to the shop in Antonito ($400,000), and development of a master plan ($270,000) involving historic buildings on the line in Colorado and a mile-by-mile evaluation of the 64 miles of track.
While the states operate the railroad, they contract out the management. At this time that management is with the C&TSRR Management Co., which developed from the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec, an organization that started in 1981 and now has more than 2,300 members, Schmitz said.
Elmer Salazar, one of the management company’s directors, briefed the commission on a number of issues.
Ridership this last season was up about 20 percent from 2005. He said the management company had hoped for 42,000 riders but got only about 40,000. Because of its advertising efforts, 42 percent of the ridership loaded at Antonito.
The management company was paid $43,000 in 2006 to manage the railroad. The commission reimburses the company for payroll for the line’s employees (65 in the summer and about 30 in the winter), materials and supplies.
Since the management contract wasn’t agreed to by the previous commission, the management company has been given a 90-day extension, to March 31 Public work sessions are being planned to help with the process.
“If we do not deliver the things we say we’ll do, please do the citizens and the states the right thing and fire us,” Salazar told the commission.
30 employees in the winter??
