Western Railroad Discussion > Altamont Press Winterail Letter - and a thank you

This is the letter I distributed at Winterail. I'd like to say thank you to each and every person who stopped by the table. Your comments meant a lot to me.

David Curlee
Altamont Press

---

David, you've done an incredible job with Altamont Press and are to be commended!! Any target date in late spring? Thanks again and best wishes spending more time with the family.

Kent in Carmel Valley

Thank you for taking on a job which would never pay, but gave pleasure to fellow railfans.

Mark
Austin TX

Thanks for sharing the letter, David. As a small business owner myself I completely understand how much time it can take and what you give up as part of that. Best of luck and I know I'll be buying a couple copies of the new timetable.

Paul Birkholz
Sheridan, WY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/10 17:59 by mtnwestrail.

David,

Your hard work has been greatly appreciated. You have made railfanning so much easier for me than it would have been without your timetables.

I feel like I have personally failed you, wanting to come up with ideas on how to keep going and never giving you anything concrete. Please accept my apology.

Thank you for everything.

Charles Freericks

I can only echo what's already been said - thank you for what you and Rob have done over the years. I understand and can sympathize with your decision to reclaim your life, even if I'm sad to see a railfan staple like AP's timetables go by the wayside. I wish you the best in future endeavors.

Thank you David for all your hard work and for at least trying to extend Rob's legacy...doing so without the massive resources and contacts Rob had must have been brutal and I would have never expected anybody to continue his work under those conditions. I will tell you this, if California No. 20 is to be the last edition, if was by far the best edition ever and I will most likely order additional copies to have on hand when my current set wear out.

I personally thought the end of Altamont Press was going to occur in 2006 when Rob's passing...that I got to enjoy the products of Altamont Press for another four years is something I am personally very thankful for.

Rick Kisinger
Fontana, CA

I concur with the above, Dave. Under Rob and then you, you have provided a great resource for railfans to use in the pursuit of their hobby. While I will greatly miss your publications, I certainly understand and wish you the best where ever life takes you from this wonderful project! Thanks for all of your hard work.

It wa a good run, I personally own many copies of your products, I will miss them.
Thanks for all you have done and good luck.
God bless.
Tom

David, I only own one copy of any of your timetables, though I wish I was able to own more that I could use. I only own the Kansas City Timetable, and I would have been lost without it. I commend you on your work, and sad to see it go away.

Chris

David,

I just wanted to thank you again for keeping the timetables coming these past few years! It was good to speak with you, as I received your letter, and I fully understand the decision you have come to. I just wish that I could have had some sort of knowledge that could have helped you continue the business as I use these daily. Please don't be a stranger and continue to attend Winterail!

Best of luck,

-Rob
Fremont, Ca

I'm very sad to see the impending demise of such a great resource-I made a point of stocking up on all the timetables I didn't already own on Saturday so I'm not completely lost when I venture outside of California!

Best of luck, and thanks for the hard work

Jamie

How nice to hear from all of you and your greatly justifiable praises for David and his work.. My railfanning hobby has been incredibly enriched from Altamont Press. I took early retirement from Kaiser in 1994 and wrote an e-mail to Altamont Press "in Modesto" to ask if I could come see their facility since we had orchards over there. Had no idea that AP was one Rob Carlson and his computers--he was just as curious as to why a female would be ordering a timetable---#2---and so we arranged to meet for coffee at Perko's across from the MET tracks on a day when my husband Carl was coming over there to check the orchards or some such. It was Rob who told me about Winterail---and this past one was my 14th--and he asked me if I would "help" him at the AP booth. And the rest is history.
Saturday was bittersweet for me to see David dealing with all these issues. Ted Benson was actually the one who pushed Rob to found the AP and the timetables---and it was good to see Ted at Winterail on Saturday, as usual. I have had a great time in my railfanning years thanks to AP and all the people I have met on TO---thanks to Todd------and I remember the Winterail when David showed up at the booth and I said to Rob "who is this kid??"---------well, we all know now, don't we?? and how great it has been that he has taken over the helm and steered it as far as he can. Those people in the vendor area at Winterail are either retired with other income or this is their weekend hobby and they have full time jobs. AP is never going to be a full time job for David and provide what he needs to survive. Matter of fact, at the last Winterail before Rob died in 2006, he told me he was going to bag it the next year. His finances were a disaster but would have been with or without AP. After his death, David was brave enough to take a "love of his life" and try to carry it on.
To all of you whom I saw at Winterail, thanks for coming by---and to all of you who can possibly help keep David's and Rob's "dream" alive, thanks to you too-
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

What will happen with the Altamont Press discussion board (website)?

I concur with the above, Dave. Under Rob and then you, you have provided a great resource for railfans to use in the pursuit of their hobby. While I will greatly miss your publications, I certainly understand and wish you the best where ever life takes you from this wonderful project! It was a good run, I personally own many copies of your products, I will miss them.

Thanks for all you have done and good luck. God bless.


~SP8100

What would it take to change your mind?

bob berkman, Newberry Springs CA

Dear Dave: How about a modest subscription service of $10.00 a year? I am sure hundredths would pay it, We need two voices in the railfan community. Thanks fora very valuable sounding board, Sincerely, Mike Pechner

$10 would be a terrific bargain.

bob berkman

Weather and CTCDagget, It sounds like David's problem isn't so much money as it is collecting information. The effort of putting these together is a labor of love, he's spending a lot of time and collecting the information and getting very little assistance from the Community, as such his personal life is suffering. The only way to possibly keep Altamont Press going would be if someone else were able and willing to spend time collecting the information necessary for the books.

David: I, and most of us here, thank you for what you've done these past several years and respect your decision. I'm sorry it came down to this and wish you luck in whatever's next.

DynamicBrake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> David, you've done an incredible job with Altamont
> Press and are to be commended!! Any target date in
> late spring? Thanks again and best wishes
> spending more time with the family.

I don't know.

Without enough help coming in from Utah, I need to take a trip there for research purposes...hopefully next month.

David