Re: C&TS Ridership

John,

The railroad is at the break-even point now on operations. Of course, this doesn't count the heavy trackwork and locomotive restoration activity, which is funded largely from state grants.

With a 4th steam locomotive next year, we will be able to doublehead whenever traffic requires, and have more flexibility to run special trains. We also plan to operate some Cumbres turns on Sundays to cater to families who want to take shorter trips. The trains (as well as the Thursday "Cinder Bear" trains) will depart Chama at 11:00 a.m., an hour after the regular trains.

We are now spreading ballast west of Mud Tunnel drawing from the pile from Sublette. In fact, we will be running a steam-powered ballast train tomorrow. Also, we are just buying another 8,200 tons of ballast which we will be spreading as long as the weather holds.

We don't know when the 19 will be back in service. The repairs are being handled by Caterpillar as warranty work, and they haven't given us a firm date.

Richard