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Cumbres & Toltec Scenic loses out to political gridlock
Seems that NM is anti-rail, from denying funding to C&T to not joining CO and KS in saving the Raton Pass line of Amtrak’s “Southwest Chief”.
Since the C&T money was $1 million out of a $60 million HIGHWAY bill, I’d hardly call New Mexico anti-rail.
Repair the Sand House? I repaired the sand house in end of September 1970 and by coupling a air hose to the front hose of the locomotive had the sanding facilities fully functionalwith dry hot sand… Why can’t the Friend of C&TS have that as a project? Has the entire building or bin rotted out? Or did the pot belly stove disappear?
From the way this is written, did the Senate leader drop the repairs to locomotives in favor of a Visitor Center? In that case entirely remove any application for Visitor Center plans. Ride the train instead of using a Visitor Center.
This is a toruist attraction, a museum. Why would tax dollars be spent on it? If it can’t keep going based on ticket and gift shop sales in addition to private donations maybe it shouldn’t exist.
Maybe, Mr. Mcguire, you should have to pass a toll booth every time you want to drive to town for groceries…
The 2015 season is stated incorrectly in the article. You said it runs “May 23-Sept. 11”. It actually is May 23rd through Oct 18th.
@ Robert J McGuire
Because tourists spending returns $7 plus for money invested. Benefits many residents.
Mr. Morrison is correct. Not enough people are aware of the state ownership of the railroad and the need for the owners to invest in it regularly. Not enough understand the way our own streets and sidewalks are financed by our sales taxes etc and how taxes prop up tourism and how tourism creates jobs. Ignorance is just as dangerous as it ever has been.
Actually Mr. Morrison, I do pass a toll booth on my way to get groceries. It costs me a dollar each way. I don’t mind paying becasue I use the highway. But if I was one of the majority of taxpayers in New Mexico, I would be very upset if my tax dollars were used to prop up a tourist attraction that I have never been to, probably never will, and only draws out of staters that leave their pollution and trash behind. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with the museum, but it should be self-supporting in order to be of value.
It would be great if some of the comments were a bit more educated in nature. The states of Colorado and New Mexico own the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. The funds provided by the states represent capital outlay dollars which are strictly used for improvement of infrastructure (track, locomotives, passenger car fleet, etc.). These are not operating funds and the railroad has to pay its own way from an operating standpoint. The C&TS is an economic engine in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. It operates through a couple of the poorest counties in the entire United States. The railroad is a National Historic Landmark and Mr. McGuire before you make a statement like you do, two of the three states with the highest ridership are Colorado and New Mexico! Our residents do ride the C&TS along with many others from the U.S. and oversees. The states view the funds they put into the railroad as an investment in an asset that they own! In turn it provides employment and benefit to the many businesses located in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Our tax dollars are used by our elected governments to support plenty of things that we as citizens may never use ourselves though we may indirectly benefit from, and plenty of things that we do benefit directly from including paying workers to clean up after thoughtless tourists and residents alike. That’s just the way it works here in America.
NM is not awash in money, kids and schools come before choo-choos. It may be time to sell the C&TS to private operators