Re: Chama Visitor's Center and Covered Storage in Yard

Rod, you're the biggest dreamer I know. I wish you had lots of money to bankroll some of these things 'cause some of them are my dreams too. You just have to realize that what most of these ideas, like the recreated San Juan and any hope of it succeeding financially, are indeed dreams.

28 to 30 tons for those little cars? You sure? It is hard to fathom that those mini-passenger cars could way more than a San Juan coach. I know steel weighs more than wood but only the underframe is steel. The all steel coaches at Durango don't weight that much!

So by your figuring you would need approximately 125 riders a trip to make money on the San Juan. I would still think that the average tourist would prefer the existing train with the big windows and the rider gon. So most of your riders would have to be railfans. Give it the benefit of the doubt and say that 75 per train would be fans, 150 a day for two trains. 120 day season. sorry but there probably aren't 18,000 railfans in the whole US of A!

As far as the parking lot goes, if you turn to the right you will see that you are looking at the vast majority of the cars that were parked there that day. These folks milling around the yard came in by train from Alamosa (or Durango, depending on the direction of today's train) and the cars represent the railroad workers and maybe a couple railfans chasing.

I tell you what, I'll give you the parking lot argument if you can get all the tourists to drive pre 1969 cars and trucks and leave the motor homes home.