Western Railroad Discussion > re: The Creede Branch ... from my Brother

My brother is a resident of Creede Colorado, so I naturally sought him out for his opinion when the news of the STB ruling came down. Below are his thoughts on the matter.

Regards,
Burlington John

***********************************************************************************************

Let me clear up a few misconceptions about the abandonment suit filed by the City of Creede against the D&RGHF for the one mile of track within the city limits.

First, I would like to state that I love train travel, having traveled across the US and in as many as ten countries in Europe and Asia. Most of the citizens in Creede who wrote letters in favor of the abandonment are not against trains. They merely wanted to control the line within the city limits of a small town.

The head of the Foundation (which had its charitable status revoked by the state in 2004 for failing to report financial information), came to town in 1999-2000, bullying people by sending out invoices to residents and businesses for encroaching on the RR ROW, and saying he could take over the historic depot, which had just been restored with State Historic Funds. Being a bully isn't against the law, but it won't win any love or favors in a town of 470 people. The owner is a walking PR nightmare.

The fact is, the line is in disrepair, requiring (as determined by the Union Pacific who sold the line to D&RGHF) about $1 million per mile to bring the line and bridges up to Class 1 status. He has owned the line for 8 years and has done little, except try to raise money and run speeders on the line. Last fall, when it became known that the city had secured the pro bono services of a RR attorney (who represents the Union Pacific, among others), they stepped up work on track and ties, forced the state to rehabilitate a crossing, at about a cost of $80K to Colorado taxpayers. They they started tearing the streets in two locations to uncover the track, which had been covered for more than 20 years.

The uses for the land along the ROW could include (as FBFTEAM writes) parking, possible housing and expansion of the town's only grocery store. In addition, the track runs through town in a north to south direction (there are only 3 north-south streets - I said it was a small town!) and ended up going past the depot and up an alley west of Main St. that is about 15 feet wide. None of the business owners (of which I am one) along that section of Main St wanted a diesel or steam engine idling at their back door while the tourist were "buying their t-shirts".

And FBFTEAM is right, the train would not have turned the town into another Silverton or Durango. Who would pay $60 to ride a train at 15 MPH on tracks that parallel the state highway that runs from South Fork to Creede? Hell, two of the finest narrow gauge RRs anywhere, Cumbres-Toltec and Durango-Silverton, barely stay afloat financially and they travel through country that you can't see any other way than by train.

The comment "elitists to the max" is a little annoying. There is a realtor office, a bar, an art gallery, our cafe, the bank, the hardware store and another gallery being affected by the Main St./alley situation. Hardly the stuff of elitist millionaires - just working people.

Lastly, this does not mean that the D&RGHF cannot bring a train to Creede. It just means that the train will stop on the edge of town. But, barring a Powerball win, it will be a cold day in hell when this bunch raises the $21 million to make even that possible. I hope this sheds some light on the situation.

A story about the ruling in the Alamosa newspaper is available by clicking on the following link. It pretty much sums up the STB ruling.

http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=&story_id=7636

Thanks for the view from the other side of the table, so to speak. As railfans, we are prone (myself included) to immediately defending the railroad (any railroad!!) from the NIBMY's, BANANA's, and just plain nut jobs that might tear up a single foot of track, destroy that old abondoned depot, or stop the construction of some railroad facility. We rarely look at the other side to see if, because this once, they might be right. Many times the other side is plain wrong...in this situation I'm leaning towards the City of Creede and its residents, but since I don't have all the facts, I haven't totally made up my mind. At least it gets us something to think about.

Guess I'll take the middle ground. It would be a nice train ride, some of
is away from the road, couple nice bridges, really pretty in fall. Key term
is train ride because there's nothing remarkable at either end. The station
and the surrounding area is interesting but not to the point of taking a
train to get there. $20 behind the 1744 (or the FEC Pacific) and maybe.

Agreed that the owner started a PR nightmare soon after he took over the line. His actions even made the Pueblo paper. The biggest reports were that apparently the locals had been using the ROW to park cars for years and were suddenly thrown out. Not a good PR move, it could have been handled much better from the start.

Having said that, I have followed many of the town paper's editorials and reports over the last several years. In retrospect, those that want the railroad out of town turned pretty heavy handed in other direction, bringing in former government lawyers, etc.

It is too bad that both sides could not have worked out some deal. The sad news is that many of us who supported the Creede businesses (some very neat bars, places to eat, art stores, etc) will now avoid the town in the future. While this small group will never put a dent in that economy, if the town ever wants some support for other things politically, forget it.

The best laugh might be in 15 years, assuming that there is a railroad running, and some local group wants to restore track into town to bring in more business.

Again, both sides needed to look into the mirror and figure a way to settle this. Too late now.

Creede has not been blameless in this fight. I remember in one newspaper article someone in Creede was trying to use the Cumbres & Toltec as an example of how the quality of life in Creede would go down if trains returned to Creede. The person interviewed stated that when the train was in Antonito the local people could barely breath, the noise was unbearable, and that the town was over run with tourists.

My experience with Antonito is that one barely even knows that the C&TS train is even there, since it is on the edge of town.

And the comment in the newspaper article that nobody from Creede would use the passenger train since it was so slow. It is astonishing that they seemingly don't understand that this is a TOURIST railroad, not Amtrak.

As Tip O'Neil said, all politics is local, and there is certainly enough politics in this story to go around.

So, is the STB's ruling final, or can/will the D&RGHF appeal?
Thanks,
-Wes

I wonder if they will do anything with that FEC steam locomotive they transported out here from Traverse City, MI to supposedly run out of Creede after finishing the restoration that was begun? === === = === JLH