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Colorado Commissioners: Ken Bitten-Secretary, Mark Graybill-Chairman
New Mexico Commissioners: Kim Smith-Casford-Vice Chair, Billy Elbrock-Treasurer
President of the Cumbres & Toltec railroad: Marvin Casias
Glossary (initialisms that may appear in this document): Click here
Commissioner Graybill started off by making some introductions. Scott Gibbs term expired June 30. Ken Bitten has been appointed to replace Scott. Ken was asked to introduce himself. He started off by telling us he has been in the railroading industry for 48 years. Class 1 experience as well as short line, tourist and excursion railroads. He has been watching the C&TS since arriving in the area with his parents in 1970. His first ride on the C&Ts was in 1973. He is thrilled to be on board, keeping things going. Mark mentioned how he and Ken have already done a train ride together, as well as hours together on the phone. Ken is starting to make a big impact as a new commissioner.
Eric Mason has accepted another position, thus no longer with the RR. Marvin Casias has returned to his president position. Marvin was asked how long he has been with the RR. He answered that he is in his 49th year. Alysia Martinez has been moved to business manager. Steven Butler is the operations manager. Marvin, Alysia & Steven are making an amazing team. Mark thanked Eric Mason for his many great ideas. He helped the management team move up.
Marvin started off by saying "First of all, it is going to be a challenge", meaning his new (returning) roll as president of the RR. He explained he has a good team to work with. They have been busy doing as much work as possible. They have been working around the weather. The RR has been dealt some hard blows. They are dealing with the dryness. The RR has been getting water from its own sources. The RR has been self sufficient in its needs. The trains have been running well, although not full. The customers have been getting the trip promised with very few mishaps. A new parlor car continues its building process, about half way done. Some material has yet to be delivered for it. The track department has replaced nearly 1000 ties. The track crew provides backup from time to time. ROW cleanup is being done to reduce fire danger. On days when there is a need to double head out of Chama, Steven has let the helper engine go off to do ROW work in the afternoon. This gets more ballast laid. A lot of cinders in the yard have been cleaned up (in Chama). He feels sorry for Alysia, as he is hounding her for more money to get more work done. He is happy with the way things are working. Commissioner Graybill pointed out it was a rough season to start, with the two week delay in opening due to the dangerous fire conditions along the ROW. Two trains in June were annulled as well due to fire danger. With the loss of 12 days of operations, that hurt the financial side. Mark felt there was a big of a hangover from the announcement of the delayed opening. It took a while for reservations to gain momentum. Most of the reservations for the RR are done far in advance due to its location. There is not much last minute bookings. Operations this season has been consistent. Some trains have been light, but there have been a few that needed to double head out of Chama. The commissioners keep an eye on how things are trending. Things were slow in June, through the middle of July. Things look to be normalizing, which is good. Marvin and Mark commented on the great team in place.
The season started off rough, with the delay in opening, and having to annul trains of June 30 & July 1 due to fire danger. The RR watches their POI's (Points Of Ignition) daily. That is used to decide if it is safe to run trains or not. Temperatures and humidity fall into the calculation. Most trains out of Chama are followed by two fire patrol, even with the oil burners, as even an oil burner can set a fire. The first few weeks of the season saw some hot boxes on the train, on tenders and cars as new wheels get broken in. That issue is largely gone now. Diesel engine 114 was used once so far this season to run a train due to an engine that needed to be taken down for an inspection. 487 & 489 have been handling most of the trains for the summer. When there has been moisture in the area, 488 & 463 have been called into service (both coal burners). Since July, most Tuesdays are double headers as an extra coach was added. Some Thursdays and Saturdays have also been double headed. Things are expected to slow down until the end of September, after which more double headers will return. Steven keeps an eye on the booking site to determine future needs to provide service. A dark sky train will run the evening of this meeting. A geology train will run the end of August. On August 30, the RR returns to its normal of two trains a day for the remainder of the season. This fall, two dinner trains have been scheduled, September 12, and Octoberfest train out of Chama. September 26 is a wagon train featuring a local musician & cowboy poet. September 27 has a fundraiser train for engine 315. This is to honor Thomas Artzberger, former chief mechanical engineer of the DRHS. September 28, 168 & 315 will double head from Antonito to Osier and back. This is a fundraiser for locomotive 492. Those special trips are priced at $500 each. At the end of the season, there are photo charters for Pete Lerro with engines 315 & 487.
By running one train a day, that has opened up more time for work trains to do their work. They have been cleaning up ballast, cinders from the Chama yard, they have made great progress. On the mechanical side of things, 168 is in service. It ran for the 150th anniversary of CO. As mentioned, it will run September 28. 315 returned to the RR in July. The RR just got done with its annual inspection for the FRA. The DRHS members did most of that work at the Chama shop. It will run September 27 & 28 and October 27. 484 is out of service for its 1472 day inspection. When 492 enters service, work will begin on 484. As that day gets close, materials will be ordered for it. 487 has been running all summer. Work has been done on its drafting. It is making a lot less smoke out on the RR. 488 is down for the moment due to a leak found in an old repair. Materials for the repair are being tested to solve the problem. 489 just returned from boiler wash, and has been running almost daily all summer. 492's boiler work has been hold over the summer (Antonito). Its running gear has been stripped in Chama. It is just a bare frame with cylinders. Clean up work is in progress. There are some old repairs in the frame that will need to be addressed. New parts are being fabricated. All three diesels are in service. The new parlor car is moving along nicely. The new pavilion at Cumbres has started. The foundation has been dug. Concrete work will follow soon. Mid October looks to be the completion date. After that, electrical work can be done and get it ready for next season. 463 came back to service a few weeks ago. A complete running gear rebuild was done. This summer saw its trailing truck rebuilt. It will be the power for the dark sky train. Once 488 is back, the RR should have 5 operating steam engines, along with 315. The material testing for 488 should be done in about two weeks, then the repair itself should go fairly quickly.
Commissioner Smith-Casford asked Steven to comment on the operating schedule for 2027 (as it is an action item later in this meeting). It was a big job, and nice to have it done this early. Steven pointed out how this was an effort by himself, Marvin and Alysia. So, the 2027 plan is to start off Memorial weekend running both trains. The first two weekends of June will be one train a day. Mid June will return to two trains a day through mid August. Late August sees ridership drop off as kids return to school, and before the fall color season begins. So, mid August to late September will see one train per day, then for fall colors return to two trains per day. A lot more specials are planned. Such as beer trains, wine trains, dinner trains, dark sky train as well as Christmas trains. Also being considered are pumpkin trains. All of the special trains are to be announced. Commissioner Graybill was pleased that the 2027 schedule is getting closer to prior year schedules. Commissioner Bitten commented on how being a prior CTO member, the next year schedule was done near the end of the current year. He mentioned that it would be better to get the following year schedule defined earlier. He was pleased to see management get the schedule done in record time. It puts the RR in a good place, and indicates the strength of the management team.
The CTO has seen a decline in revenue over prior FY. Expenses have been reduced. Even though expenses have dropped with revenue, things are not where things should be. There is a decline in NOI. Management managed to reduce expenses. Next year, with more days with two trains, it is hoped that the financial condition will improve (along with the revenue from the special trains). The HPA has seen an improvement from prior year. A reduction in the historic preservation fee has been realized, which parallels with operations. Expenses in HPA are primary with insurance and contract services. The commission has seen its support from NM. CO has yet to arrive. The RR has sent an invoice has been sent to CO, so the funds should arrive soon. July expenses for the commission is generally low, which is good. Capital projects has several items in progress. Locomotives, track improvement, passenger car rehab and 492. On the operational side, as ticket revenue drops, the same thing happens to retail. As the fall season approaches, ticket revenue will increase, with hopes revenue will normalize. The RR is keeping an eye on cashflow at this time.
It has been a tough season start, but some encouraging progress as the summer has moved along. The marketing focus has been to increase volume after the delayed opening. Filling seats with the fall color season, special trains and the upcoming Christmas trains. This year saw the RR being named as the best train ride by USA today. The first time in 6 years to get the top spot. The CO 150th specials saw about $31k in revenue. It have the RR a chance to really showcase itself. These special events enable the RR to bring people together. Content creators have brought attention to the RR. Looking at the July numbers, it seems these creators are helping with ticket sales. Their content brings in new eyes to the RR. The social media audience stays engaged. May through July on Facebook had 1.3 million views. 80,000 engagements, Instagram with 200,000 views with a 6.8% engagement rate. TicToc had 1.45 million post views. The RR gained nearly 2,000 followers. It is encouraging that demand has increased as the season has progressed. Booking activity thru July has strengthened. July was looking fairly normal. Revenue per passenger has increased about 13%. This is due to the premium services. Website traffic has followed a positive trend. Web traffic this July was about 10% higher than last year. Digital advertising is producing measurable results. The Google ad campaign has generated about $950,000 in sales. Instagram and Facebook sales has generated about 300 purchases netting about $240,000. Marketing focus at this time is for the near term opportunities, such as promoting the local appreciation days, which starts now and runs to August 30. It gives 50% off for coach class tickets on all-aboard and limited excursions for those within an 80 mile driving distance to the RR. Fall color and special trains will be promoted. What works this year will be applied to 2027. Website traffic is recovering, it is increasing. Revenue per passenger is going up. Digital campaigns are producing results.
Commissioner Graybill asked Robert if he could mention the Santa trains. Robert (from memory) said they would run December 5-7 & 10-12. The RR is looking at improving the experience. It really helps that those trains are scheduled earlier this year. Tickets should be available next week. It is nice to have tickets available earlier to boost ridership. What will be offered this year will be a lot better than prior years. Mark mentioned how in the Friday CTO meeting, there were a lot of great ideas for the Santa trains. Mark also noted how the cost of the C&TS Santa trains is far lower than the other like trains in the area, if not the country. This could also be helpful to build a ridership base. Santa trains are a good tourism driver in the industry. Robert pointed out how most of the ridership for the Santa trains is local, and the RR didn't want to price them out of the market. The RR is looking to offering higher classes of service. In the past, the RR only offered coach service. By offering premium classes, it is hoped to create more ridership and revenue. Attendee Bill Lock had some comments. He mentioned how the RR had some great publicity in the Albuquerque Journal. There was mention just this week about the special trains the RR offers (Octoberfest, Wagon Train). Bill asked how the 2 for 1 promotions were going. The RR special pricing during the CO 150/America 250. Those ran for about 11 days and brought in $17,000 in revenue, 257 riders. It does seem to help bridge the lack of ridership. It is too early to comment on the local appreciation promotion. The marketing push for that is already in progress, with more to come.
Commissioner Smith-Casford was excited about some items discussed in the Friday CTO meeting. There has been a silhouette of a train painted in Antonito. Advertising can be painted on it. They have been attached on the light poles through town. Later, the business can purchase the signs, or they will be auctioned. It was a great fund raising for Antonito, and it exposes the RR. The Antonito high school is using images of 168 & 463 on their wrap of their wrestling uniform. It is nice to have some interaction between the town of Antonito and the RR. It is important for the RR to be good citizens. Commissioner Elbrock mentioned that customers that come into his restaurant that rode the train seem to be happy. His business is down about 7-8%. The store is down 15-20% (ed. not sure, I think he means the Lowes store). It may be due to the new Dollar General store in Chama. The gas station is down about 7-8%. The gift shop across from the bank (by the depot) is up 7-8%. Seems everyone is happy. Commissioner Graybill mentioned gas prices are up this year, so a drop in tourists is to be expected. Commissioner Bitten commented that it is too soon for him to work with the communities at this point. he is looking forward to getting involved soon.
As a very new commissioner Commissioner Bitten said he doesn't have any capital project news at this time. Commissioner Graybill asked Steven if he had any comments regarding capital projects. Steven replied that they are gearing up for this winter for the work on locomotives and cars. Work on 492 will continue. 488 needs some running gear work. At least one axle needs to be replaced, new tires. 487 is likely to get a new smoke box. Keeping things in good shape for the 2027 season.
No one from TABB was present.
Bill Lock began by introducing two new people with the Friends. First was the new chairman of the board, elected in August, Steve Jorgensen from the Dallas area. Steve has been an active volunteer for nearly two decades. Steven has been into the lettering of the cars, being very historically correct. He is now leading the board of directors with great zeal. The new executive director Henry Sandles a long time Albuquerque resident. He has been involved with non-profits and young people and has a passion to raise money for the Friends. Bill reported that Henry is excited about his new job with the Friends. These two new people in a leadership position with the friends is quite exciting. Henry has already attracted new members to the Friends.
Henry then took the mic. As is standard for the executive director, he provided each commissioner with some printed material. Henry mentioned he has been on board for about ninety days. He grew up in Roswell. Graduated from the University of NM. He provided a bit of his background. When he started, they had 1605 members, That has increased by 55 members in the last ninety days. 1661 members now. He provided the names of the new office managers. The Friends have a new IT specialist. The Friends would like to work out some partnerships with some of the special trains that Robert mentioned. Also, the train shows the Friends attend, they like to promote the RR. The Friends would also like to be a part of the Santa trains. Henry said he would love to bring in young people into the Friends. He loved trains when he was young. Young people has been his passion for a long time. He has begun work with the mayor and town counsel of Chama, and will begin working with the mayor of Antonito. The goal is to get more young people involved. Also a goal is to get the Friends more involved with the communities. There is one work session left, session G, a landscaping project in Antonito. There is some work to be done on RPO 54, and box car 3223 in the CRF at Antonito. There are repairs to MW02 to return it to operational condition. There is some organizational work being done on the Friends property in Chama. RPO 54 will get new side doors. In CS a new platform has been installed at the work site and preparing a second one. The Friends finished session D in Antonito last week, work on box car 3223. Some cars got painted. Commissioner Bitten mentioned how he has been active in youth engagement with the RR passenger car alliance for well over a decade. He looks forward to working with Henry on that. He looks forward with continuing the relationship with the Friends. Henry commented on his experience with non-profits across the country. He has never seen one like the one the Friends have. The commitment and dedication is incredible.
The commission is wanting a 7.5% increase in their budget, the commission. Yes by all commissioners.
Commissioner Graybill mentioned how they have been great at retaining funding from the CO side. It is hoped they will do well with the next funding cycle. Money from both states is getting tighter. Yes by all.
This is the triangle of property just north of the Family Dollar store. This is a renewal of that lease. Yes by all.
Yes by all.
This is a legal requirement for bank accounts, etc. due to a change in a commissioner. Ken witheld his vote, as it is about him. All others voted Yes.
None
None
None
Before wrapping up the meeting, the commission wanted to recognize Kim (long time employee in the concession car) who now handles the retail and on-board management.
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