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Colorado Commissioners: Scott Gibbs-Vice Chair, Mark Graybill-Treasurer
New Mexico Commissioners: Kim Smith-Casford-Secretary, Billy Elbrock-Chairman
General Manager of the Cumbres & Toltec railroad: Ed Beaudette
Glossary (initialisms that may appear in this document):
ARPA: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
BAR: Budget Adjustment Request
C&TS: Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
C19: Covid-19 virus
CO: Colorado
CRF: Car Restoration Facility, Antonito
CS: Colorado Springs, CO
CTO: Cumbres Toltec Operating company
D&RG: Denver & Rio Grande Railroad
D&S: Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
DFA: Department of Financial Administration (NM)
DRHS: Durango Railroad Historical Society
DTS: Dynamic Ticket Solutions (the prior ticketing company used by the C&TS)
FH: Fare Harbor (the current ticketing company used by the C&TS)
FY: Fiscal Year
FRA: Federal Railroad Administration
HPA: Historic Preservation Account, or Historic Preservaton Association
HR: Human Relations
JBC: Joint Budget Committee (CO)
LFC: Leglislative Finance Committee (NM)
MOW: Maintenance Of Way
NOI: Net Operating Income
NM: New Mexico
ROW: Right of Way
RPO: Railroad Post Office
RR: Railroad, the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, unless mentioned otherwise
SHF: State Historic Fund (CO)
SLV: San Louis Valley, the area that contains Antonito
TABB: Tracks Across Borders Byway
VIHR: Victorian Iron Horse Roundup (August 2021 special event)
YTD: Year To Date (fiscal normally)
‘the Friends’: The Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR, the museum arm,
http://www.cumbrestoltec.org
A moment of silence for Roger Hogan occured just after the pledge while everyone was still standing. Just about everyone reading this report knows Roger.
This was deleted as well as the entire section 11. A Zoom meeting will soon be announced.
The marketing report will be provided by Ed, as Abi was in Chama, due to the annual Chama Days occurring this same weekend.
The equipment is holding up for the work that was performed. The passenger trains have been running well with minimum delays. A good customer experience. There have been some issues around the property. There have been no significant fire issues. This keeps other agencies from bothering the RR. The trucks for the White Pass engine 114 have arrived. Work is still in progress to get the engine to Antonito. Shop work continues. 487 is hot. (Ed note: I saw the engine moving about yard limits. Looked to be early testing). This engine is expected in service very soon. Pay car F is receiving window work. Work on this car has slowed as other work had higher priority. The passengers have received a predictable ride experience. They are leaving with memories rather than delays. Keeping the equipment reliable is important to keep customers happy. Commissioner Graybill pointed out how great the engines and cars look. The number of locomotives steaming this year is impressive. Marvin pointed out how all the employees have gone the extra mile to get things done. A lot of the work effort is not seen by the customer. The track department has been busy. Sometimes their efforts are needed elsewhere. They were employed in the shop over the winter. The RR is further ahead on their mechanical stuff than in the past thanks to the track workers. The track department has kept the track in pretty good shape. Ballast for the track crew should be going out Wednesday or Thursday. The tamper operator should be back after Labor Day. Graybill asked Marvin to thank the entire crew. Ed: I asked if there was enough information to estimate the arrival date of 114. Marvin answered that an estimate can not be done at this time. GM Ed mentioned that Marvin has understated the efforts of the crews. The RR is providing 2024 expectation with a property that is 100 years older than that. The crews are meeting expectations. There was one train with a significant delay this year. Marvin was the engineer and Ed was the conductor. An air line coupler failed. Marvin came up with a way to stitch it together, and the train was back on its way in an hour. The problems get resolved. Ed continued: One of the goals of the RR is get ridership back to where it was prior to C19. He then transitioned to the marketing efforts.
Last season saw a ridership of about 30,000. To date this year (at about the halfway point), the RR is at over 14,000. The busy fall season is still in the future. Reservations at this time are about 20% higher than this point last year. It is hoped that reservations continue at this point. It is needed. Abi’s efforts need to change with the times. She has put her recent efforts into electronic advertising, as well as social media. Ed pointed out how the RR is advertising on subscription TV. The viewer has the option of skipping the commercials. There has been feedback that about 95% of the viewers watch the RR’s commercials. The RR’s commercials are probably much more enjoyable to watch vs. laundry soap, etc. The most recent commercial out now has some nice graphics, new scenes. The locals appreciation days will be extended this year. Taos NM and Pagosa Springs CO will be included this year. It is hoped that extending those areas a discount on the train will educate those populations about the train, to get word of mouth advertising going. Marketing looks to be going well, more seats are selling. Commissioner Graybill commented that the success of the marketing is revealed in seat sales. Ed pointed out how group sales have been strong this season.
She met with FH (the new ticketing company as of this year, see glossary above), and there is no question that their reports are accurate. There are several filters that can be applied to the reports. A training will be held Tuesday with FH to clear things up. They will go through the basics with the finance department. The finance department and ticketing agents need to better understand how to apply discounts (AARP, military, etc) and how to do them uniformly. This will be helpful in generation better reservation reports. A bit more education on the new system will be helpful. As the end of the FY just completed, the finance department is getting things prepared for the annual audit. There are a few final invoices coming in, then the books can be closed as of June 30. The CTO books are ready for audit. The only adjustments pending are for cost of goods sold and reservations. A little work with FH needs to be done to get reservation numbers right. HPA numbers are spot on. Management and liability is up over prior year. An adjustment was made to the insurance policies. They are now all 18 month policies and they align. That is the reason for the increase. Commission is generally pretty quiet this time of year, although the NM support did arrive. That will reflect on the July books. CTO expenses are close to those of last year. They are just a ‘tad’ bit lower than last year. Spending in the capital projects is less than that of last year. Staff that work normally work capital projects, are staffing trains. ARPA funds are being expensed. That balance needs to be worked down, that the money is getting used. The capital billing is up to date to May 31. The last of the billing needs to be complete before closing out the FY. Should invoices arrive rather late, small amounts can be applied to current FY, otherwise, and adjustment to the prior year FY will be required. After Tuesday, better income numbers can be provided to the commission, and how it effects the P&L. Preliminary data is being provided to the auditor. Ed pointed out that for the amount of business the RR does, it is rather complex it is to run. Marvin maintains 100+ year old stuff, and marketing needs to align with 2024 methods. Alysia needs to understand the finances of four business (CTO, Commission, Capital & HPA) tied into one.
The RR is owned by the two states. Support from both are required. Last year was good as both states provided funds for base needs, and capital needs as well. NM capital funding requests for the current year has been submitted. A modest increase has been gained to offset inflation. The portion to support commission is being put together. A little bit more will be requested due to inflation. The CO side is different. The RR is an active component with History Colorado. Funding out of CO is traditionally on a three year cycle. The current three year cycle got completed with the current legislature of CO. Some additional funding was gained for fire mitigation. The next three cycle is being worked on. Asking for additional funding due to inflation is getting trickier. CO is getting more constrained on what they can provide. The RR has received a list of questions. They will be answered as required to receive the needed capital funding in the next session.
Commissioner Smith-Casford reports that she has not had anyone bugging her, so things look to be in good shape. The local businesses are always happy when trains are running. Motels are full in Chama. Local affairs have been quiet recently. Good.
Commissioner Gibbs said that he thought both Marvin and Ed were a little too modest. There was a lot of work performed over the last winter season. The RR has six steam locomotives operational this day. It has been a while since that has been the case. 168 is ready for the post season photo trips. 463 has been operating the east end of the RR. Last winter it received its five year flexible staybolt inspection. It will need running gear work this coming winter, including driver tires. 484 also received its staybolt inspection. Doing two in one year was quite an accomplishment for the RR. 484 also received a fair amount of running gear work. 487 has received a huge amount of work. It was removed from service in 2021, due to star cracking around staybolts. It was also discovered that the firebox sheets were incredibly thin. Here is the list of work done since then: new tender cistern, tender frame inspected and repaired repainted, a oil pumper installed with new piping, so that took care of the tender. The lower 18 to 24 inches of the firebox were removed, new corners were fabricated, new sidesheets were fabricated, lower rear flue sheet, partial door sheet, then everything was re-riveted to the mud ring. A large throat sheet patch at the same time. There was an outer wrapper sheet patch around the engineers blowdown valve. The arch tubes were removed. It was converted to oil, using the D&S firepan design. Oil burner, firing valve, and all of the plumbing required to support the oil burner was installed. The butterfly fire doors were replaced with an air damper fire door. The front end was modified with a removal of the cyclone, replacement of the blast nozzle, and a new petticoat pipe for the oil drafting. The cross heads were refurbished. The piston rings were replaced. The cab was rebuilt with new wood, the floor and the walls. The locomotive was repainted. The plan is to test it with ballast trains in the near future. It was a huge amount of work, and it was all done in Antonito. As Marvin pointed out, it is steamed up. Over the next few weeks, bugs will get sorted out. Once successful running ballast trains, it will be released to passenger service. 488 is in the normal service rotation. 489 received some modifications to its oil bunker to reduce water pickup in the fuel oil. A great improvement. Avery’s folks made a change over the winter that really improved the firing of that locomotive. He also found some additional work that needs to be done on the oil bunker. As Marvin mentioned, 114 is setting in Bellingham WA. It was barged to there from AK. The trucks are already in Antonito. The locomotive will be trucked to Antonito from WA once permits are secured. (Ed note: WA state permits are the pacing factor in the move). Lava tank work resumes later this month. There is architectural design work being done for replacement of the pavilion at Cumbres Pass (thank you NM). Engineering evaluation of the Chama roundhouse has been submitted to Ed, to look at structural improvements. Marvin’s crew has been working on a new coach (#526). Over the winter, cars 292, 256 & 65 were repainted. The Osier dinning hall exterior walls were repainted last spring. Engineering evaluations to replace the culverts at Long Creek are complete. They date from the late 1930’s. They don’t last forever. There is going to be a significant expenditure to fix that problem. Gibbs wanted to thank the staff for the amount of work done over the last winter. Great job. All of the commissioners agreed.
The sixth work session for the year is done. Steve and Don are in Antonito. Work was performed at Sublette. There was a small crew in Chama. There was some work done at the car inspectors house on Cumbres. Roof work was done at Sublette. Sessions A&B have had in the 80’s and high 70’s of volunteers. D was down to 59. They are in the 30’s and 40’s for E & F. The Friends struggle to find people for the work sessions. Tim reports it is drastically different than when he first got here 20 years ago. Age is a big factor. There is a lot to getting the work organized. Don is always looking for team leaders. Over the last few weeks, the Friends have had two trains run. There was the moonlight wine train. There was a photo charter train last weekend. Work on express bag car 163 continues in CS. Don explained the work schedule for that car. The Friends will have their next board meeting in CS at the Raddison hotel airport on October 25. Tim then pointed how the Friends educational folks are doing trading cards (examples just below). They are available at train shows, and the like. Over time, the Friends are trying to produce a couple a year.
No presentation.
None.
This entire section was deleted at the beginning of the meeting.
No decisions were made in executive session. Commissioner Graybill thanked Ed Beaudette for stepping in as General Manager. He is doing a fantastic job. Ed pointed out how he works with good people to make it all work. The commissioners also wanted to thank Barbara Hogan (Rogers lovely bride) for attending the meeting. There will be a Zoom meeting in the near future to vote on some items. It will be announced 72 hours before being held.
** An Executive Session may be called at any time during the meeting, pursuant to Commission Policy and Practices Manual v8.0,
adopted May 20,2023 regarding limited personnel matters; strategy preliminary to attorney-client privilege pertaining to threatening or pending
litigation in which the public is or may become a prticipant, discussion of the purchase, acquisition or disposal of real property or water
rights by the public body. The Governing Body may revise the order of the agenda items considered at this Open Meeting.
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