Media Relations On Cumbres Pass

A man believed to be an employee of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a suspect in an assault on a Valley Courier reporter Wednesday. What could have precipitated this?

Apparently, it's a traffic accident. A truck and trailer tried to sneak past the C&TS train bound for Chama, New Mexico on a foggy afternoon, and the trailer of the truck was clipped. Engine 484 had minor damage, and the passengers were bused back to Chama. When a reporter from the Valley Courier started poking around and taking pictures, the last thing he might have expected to see was fireworks.

Draw your own conclusions from the article, but I'm wondering why would someone from the railroad deny that any accident happened twice and then take a cheap shot at a photographer? Business may be down, but that's not how you handle media relations, unless you're Sean Penn.

Let's see what develops.

Update 6/17/09
It seems like whatever did happen, the reporter blew things out of proportion when he wrote the story (linked above). According to Westword,

...It was a pretty wimpy punch," he [Winget] concedes. However, at the urging of Valley Courier publisher Keith Cerny, he reported the incident to the Conejos County Sheriff's Office due in part to what it symbolized. "It was an assault against newspapers and the freedom of the press,"...

It isn't the first time a person has cited their first amendment rights after they've annoyed people and gotten a sour response. If the reporter had been injured, or if there was a concerted effort to suppress a story, it might have actually been newsworthy. Up to now, all that's been injured is a reporter's ego and a publisher's notion of superiority.

What's A Drylander?

Railroading may figure prominently in the Northern Drylanders Museum in Nunn, Colorado, but it still makes me wonder what a drylander is.

Knowing The Facts About Trains

Trains Magazine has an article online backing up this month's cover article. The cover article itself posed an interesting question. You're at a party when, wonder of wonders, someone discovers that you're a train geek and they start talking about the "little known facts" of railroading, which actually could be myths. Do you know which are true facts and which are mythical falsehoods?

• Standard gauge came from the width of a horses backside/a Roman chariot
  
• Rails-to-trails and then trails-to-rails actually works
• A passenger train's carbon footprint is less than the number of fully-loaded automobiles
  
• Trucks are losing the battle against freight trains
• Money-losing Amtrak costs more than highways or airlines
• A mile of railroad costs more than a mile of highway
• Maglev will never be more than a novelty

Are any of these true? You'll have definitive answers to these issues and more if you read the current issue of trains. Next time you're at a party, you might save yourself with these answers. Or maybe you'll just smile and nod as they go on in their ignorance.

Brief Video of Rio Grande Scenic Railroad's Steam Engine 18

Taking advantage of the ticket sale for the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad, I headed down to Alamosa on May 23rd to catch the San Luis & Rio Grande #18. Using my small hand-held, I captured this video of the steam engine pulling up in front of the Alamosa depot. I hope to have a modest trip report available soon, conditions permitting. For now, here's the brief video.



By the way, can anyone explain what the lever is by the air compressor? I'm looking at the thing that is clicking as it rotates.

ColoRail Filing Suit To Halt Current Union Station Plan

The Colorado Rail Passenger Association, one of the pro-rail advocacy groups in Colorado, is filing a lawsuit aimed at stopping the current plans of the powers at work re-developing Denver Union Station. According to the ColoRail press release,

ColoRail finds the proposed plan short on transportation services that were committed to in the earlier planning processes and published documents. Specific concerns include the lack of expansion capacity for future transportation services, including planned passenger rail on the I-70 and Front Range corridors; insufficient passenger convenience and connectivity; and proposed project design features that are excessively costly to construct, will seriously disturb the neighborhood, and entail unnecessarily high operation and maintenance costs that have yet to be fully explained to the public.

ColoRail got its start 20 years ago when Denver Union Station was threatened with being demolished. The group's original name, Save Our Station, was changed when they accomplished their goal. Their mission has since expanded to advocate state-wide and inter-regional passenger rail service. It seems they're returning to their roots when they seek to preserve the vitality and centrality of Union Station from the greed of land developers who treat rail like an afterthought.

I know that RTD has a real penchant for underestimating demand. In 1995, I cruised the parking lot at I-25 and Broadway forever looking for a parking space, even after emergency arrangements for "unpaved parking" in adjacent lots had been made. They never expected that their baby light rail line would be so wildly popular and their future growth was stunted because of inadequate planning.

That same year of 1995, Denver International Airport opened, replacing the old Stapleton International Airport. It's triumph was that it would likely never run out of concourse space like Stapleton did, as Concourses A through C were straddled on a straight line, connected by a tram system (why not more efficient rail vehicles?) that could be extended as far as necessary to accomodate future concouses farther out. With the forward thinking the planners used, we will be able to accomodate future generations of aircraft beyond the A380.

I can't help recalling Stapleton and RTD's failure to plan as I look at the present plans which freeze off any similar expansion possibilities with two massive ice cubes of buildings. ColoRail is right to file this suit and should be supported. In 50 or 100 years, DIA will definitely be in use. We should be able to say the same about Denver Union Station, but we won't unless these plans are stopped in their tracks.

More about DUS and the future of rail in Colorado

• Latest coverage by Joel Warner of Follow That Story
• Trains News Alert (subscriber service)
• What would a big city project be without union labor?
• RTD's FasTracks Denver Union Station page
• Bob Brewster Op-Ed In DBJ: People Must Be Heard
  
• Colorado Rail Passenger Association
• ColoRail President Ira Schriber Op-Ed On DUS Dilemma
  
• Rocky Mountain Rail Authority
  

Denver HO Model Railroad Club Feature On Colorado Getaways

Since the 80s, KCNC Channel 4 in Denver has worked to boost Colorado tourism by producing features like Colorado Getaways. They recently profiled the Denver HO Model Railroad Club, the layout that's been in the basement of the Colorado Railroad Museum for over 40 years. Take a look at their video segment here. Want to visit the layout when it's open? Happen by the first Thursday evening of every month.

Greeley Museum Opens

The Greeley Freight Station Museum has finally opened! Read more here...

Colorado Midland Roundhouse Renovated For New Occupant

For over 50 years, Van Briggle Pottery had its home in the old Colorado Midland roundhouse located at US 24 and 21st Street in Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs. Now, Van Briggle has relocated to South Tejon and a new client is renting the space. Carmichael Training Systems, most famous for coaching seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has moved in after an extensive renovation. From the article in the Colorado Springs Gazette,

Griffis/Blessing spent $2.5 million renovating the 122-year-old building, which once housed the Colorado Midland Railroad's locomotives and is on the National Register of Historic Places. A few railroad artifacts, including rails and spikes, turned up during the renovation, while the building received a face-lift and massive new windows covering the arched entries where train engines once rolled

On a brief inspection, the roundhouse is still intact. You can still tell its original purpose, although the turntable pit location is masked by the parking lot. It's good to see the building retain its appearance and character while remaining useful and functional.

Some railfans may not recognize the Colorado Midland Railroad. Indeed, it was a major player in the Colorado railroad boom of the 1880s and the Midland Terminal, a remnant, survived until after World War II. A synopsis is available at Wikipedia and a "brief history" is at Richard Stamm's homepage.

Kyle Railroad Sold To Rail America

In 1984,14 counties from Colorado, Kansas, and southern Nebraska came together to form the Mid States Port Authority to take over the Kyle Railroad in Kansas and Colorado. The former Rock Island line from just northeast of Salina, Kansas to Limon, Colorado parallels I-70 (old US 40). It continues to serve 35 customers, include Scoular Grain, with a grain terminal in Salina, Kansas and Tamko Building products in Phillipsburg, Kansas. Now, Rail America, long a client of the Kyle, is buying it outright from the MSPA for $1. Read the full story...

Statue of Palmer Used for Suicide Attempt

The statue of General William Jackson Palmer, founder of the Denver & Rio Grande railroads and of the city of Colorado Springs where the statue is displayed remains undamaged after a man drove into the base in a suicide attempt early Friday morning. 

Rio Grande Heritage Unit At First Light

Thanks to Kevin Morgan and his willingness to get up early on a Friday morning, we have some great shots of Rio Grande Heritage unit UP 1989 to go with our coffee. Thanks, Kevin!

Suicide By Train Leaves Path Of Destruction

It's been said that suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness. It's hard to disagree with that, especially when someone chooses to do something like this:

LOVELAND — Investigators say a woman struck and killed by a train committed suicide by lying down on the tracks.

The Larimer County Coroner’s office says 46-year-old Sherry Sowers of Loveland died from multiple blunt force injuries and that her death was a suicide. It happened Monday afternoon when she was hit by a BNSF Railway with two locomotives moving between 20 to 30 empty cars.

BNSF Railway spokesman Steve Forsberg says Sowers may have been lying on the tracks.

What happens to the crew of the train? They had no choice in being captive witnesses to her death. Their memory of her death will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Whatever the problems this woman faced, suicide by train was one of the worst solutions she could have picked. My prayers are with the crew and their families, as well as the family of Sherry Sowers.