I was looking through Rail Pictures.net recently and aparently it’s not running anymore. So this post has two purposes:
1: I wanted to complain about tis somewhere. While I never rode it, it seems part of the spirit of winter in my mind, and it’s a shame it’s gone
2:anyone know what caused it’s disapearance. Surely they had enough support.
Thanks.
Up until 2 years ago, the original Ski Train was run by Ansco Investment Company. They gave up on the train because it was a money loser. The last train ran in 2009. For the 2009-2010 season, the owners of the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad tried (seemingly at the last minute) to put together a revived train but that failed for a variety of reasons with great fanfare. Basically fault can be spread between the new operators for not having their paperwork and new equipment up to snuff, Amtrak and Union Pacific.
visit here http://www.skitrain.com/
The train was a consistant money loser for the last 21 years of its life.
So to answer your questions, no it did not have enough support and what support it did have did not cover the expenses. It was service that operated more as a novelty rather than a true competitor to driving (car or bus) or flying to Winter Park. You’re not competeing if it takes 2 hours to go 56 miles. While novelties trains can thieve, like the Grand Canyon Railroad, the Ski Train had a short season to operate (as oppose to year round like GCRwy).
I doubt complaining will get much done… it’ll be hard to convince investors to give money to something that lost money for 21 years. Unless a new operator has a much different business plan, i doubt the Ski Train will come back.
So then why’d Rio Grande keep it alive as long as they did if it lost them money?
Rio Grande didn’t. “Ansco Investment” is Mr. Anschutz (my apologies for spelling), who acquired D&RGW and later acquired SP. He may have been a down-to-the-earth businessman, but he also had a soft spot in his heart for western historical stuff. The Ski Trail just kind of fit in with that, and it’s surprising it lasted as long as it did… But there’s a limit to everything
One story I heard involved a certain measure of Denver governmental extortion.
The City and/or County of Denver “owned” the Winter Park Ski Area. It had something to do with western slope water rights. Certain politicians thought it was important to have the train running for purposes of making it easier for the local residents to use the ski area.
Several times the Rio Grande Railroad management sought to pull the train off, but with each attempt the county tax assessor reminded the railroad that their property in Denver had not been assessed in many years. Therefore should the railroad refuse to run the Ski Train, the assessor would make sure that the increase in property taxes would be greater than the out-of-pocket losses the railroad was sustaining by operating the train. Apparently the railroad chose to stick with the train for this obvious reason.
Probably a fairy-tale , Bob. The only thing that C&C of Denver could chose to raise taxes on since 1913 is non-operating property under the ICC/STB Uniform System of Accounts. (DRGW sold it’s office HQ building long before the Ski Train and SP died.) C&C of Denver gets a quarterly disbursement check from the State Auditor who contrls the taxable rate under a strict set of federal guidelines.
SP/Denargo did put tracks on the Pepsi Center (old Market St. Yard, MP “0”) site prior to selling it just to keep the Denver Assessor’s hand out of the till until the property changed hands.
Last I heard, CN had it for a scenic passenger excursion on a WC line, the old Algoma Central if I’m not mistaken. I’d ask CN about this.
The Hawkeye Express (nee. Ski Train) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ELZfHWBb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBlGLeKWyGI&feature=related
and Iowa Northern Passenger Train in Penna: May be some of th old Ski Train Cars(?)
The Original Heavyweights for the Skitrain actually are in Californa. They became the Napa Valley Wine Dinner Train. Now that is History there pulled by Propane fueled FP4’s with heavywieghts while you eat a 5 star multi course meal. Not bad.
Probably for the same reasons as why they opted out of Amtrak for so long.
If you’ve been watching the Newswire, Ed Ellis and the Iowa Pacific served court papers on Amtrak over the Ski-Train issue (a little saber-rattling?)…stay tuned.
Ski-train was always a PR stunt, not-intended as a moneymaker, NEVER made any serious effort to be profitable…It gave an Alco FB/PB set of carbodies an extension of life, albeit with a set of EMD Blomberg trucks underneath {steam generator car)