Re: The Buck Stops With the CHS!!

First, let me say that I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments! Unfortunately, the realities of the situation won't allow for them. The best thing that can come of this situation is that certain people in the CHS bureacracy will be out on their keisters but don't count on that happening anytime soon either!
As much as I would love to see GTL Inc. back up on the Loop with their Shays and 2-8-0's (yes, lest we forget, there ARE two of them!) I just can't see Hell freezing over! Too much has happened for the current CHS group to admit how much they "screwed the pooch!"
I don't know if anybody at the CHS or Railstar has considered this but #44 is still in pieces and needs $$$ to put it back together. IF (and this is a BIG if!) the CHS could ever get over their own arrogance long enough to admit they screwed up big time, they MIGHT consider funding the completion of #44 and leasing it from the GTL Inc. for a period of time!
Honestly, it's not as crazy an idea as you might think! It's a win/win scenario for both organizations and more importantly, it might be a way to begin to heal a breach that is only hurting both organizations.
Now, assuming that the CHS dismisses this idea as "ludicrous," Ron Trottier and Railstar should enter into negotiations on their own! As long as Railstar is the lapdog of the CHS they are going to jump at their master's call! (I don't know about you but I wouldn't like my company's chances for future profits considering the track record of the people in charge!) As long as the CHS owns all of the equipment, Railstar is stuck with their Faustian deal! No steam, no train, no passengers, no money = NO BUSINESS!!
Get the #44 up and running and lease it like you planned to do with the #111 from Breckenridge. Then you would have two decent sized engines to run passengers and a third smaller engine to use as a back-up! The #9 could then be utilized as it SHOULD have been all along as a special "historic" engine used on special occasions to promote special events! Use some of the historic equipment with it and you now have the "history" portion of the Colorado HISTORICAL Society and can concentrate on making the Loop as enjoyable an experience as you can.
This scenario would open up a number of different avenues for the CHS! This is a proactive approach rather than a reactive one that actually plans ahead for multiple opportunities! Of course this whole thing is nothing more than "tilting at windmills"....