Hutch 7.62 Wrote:
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> Figure in the fact that they have not replaced the
> trestle that burned down 40 years ago.

...and what trestle would that be? If you are talking about the narrow gauge spiral loop trestle...that had everything to do with insurance coverage problems and nothing to do with a lack of desire or resources on the part of Roaring Camp management to rebuild the trestle. I find any connection between that event and the SCBT&P tenuous at best anyway...considering it burned down a good ten years before Roaring Camp bought the Felton branch from the SP...

>The track they run on has never been up graded.

I find this a very unfair statement, considering the discussion thread a little ways down showing them doing major work in the Santa Cruz tunnel. On a more basic level, as long as their physical plant is holding up and allowing them to continue operating, why would they need to do a whole lot of upgrading? It's not like they are in any danger of running coal trains, or for that matter anything bigger than their passenger trains, at any point in the foreseeable future. As long as they continue passing track inspections...not sure anyone has room to complain too much...plus, remember that they have re-built portions of the railroad from the ground up several times in their history, most recently following the storms back around 1996/1997...

>The sub roadbed is in horrible shape in places.

...and this would be different from every other road in the Santa Cruz mountains HOW?

Soak a patch of dirt with water, then push the backside of a flat shovel through the mud...what accumulates in front of the shovel is the same basic geologic process that built the Santa Cruz Mountains. The whole area is geologically incredibly unstable, and every road up there is going to have subgrade problems. In the time I've spent up there, I haven't seen any more problems on the railroad than I've seen on the state highways...

>Oh and what about the tunnel collapse that they shoe fly around?

What about it???? The railroad was in the process of strengthening that tunnel during the winter of 1993 when it caught fire...firefighters had things pretty well in hand when saturated soils over the top of the tunnel triggered a landslide. A mature tree got caught up in the landslide, and when it reached a point above the tunnel its weight punctured a hole in the roof...the newly created chimeny caused the fire to explode, completely gutting the tunnel (and all its supports). At that point the railroad evaluated its options and decided it would be cost prohibitive to try rebuilding the tunnel, assuming they could even do it at that point given the fire damage...and so they widened the original grade around the outside of the mountain (the one the trains used before the tunnel was ever built), relayed the track through it, and have been using it for, what, nineteen years now? Yes, perhaps there is a sharper than desireable curve at that spot, but it doesn't seem to be an issue for them, and they also have one less tunnel to inspect and maintain...

>Fadeing paint on most of the equipment.

To be honest...the paint really doesn't look that bad...yes, maybe a little fading has occurred, but nothing like it could be given they don't have indoor storage for any of their equipment and they operate in one of the wetest environments in the U.S.

> All these things just scream 'we have little capital!' much like the last days of the SP.

In looking at their schedule, I see they operate beach trains about 75 days a year, two trains each day. I have no idea what their overall passenger counts are...but I can guess. I imagine the train probably has a maximum capacity of around 200 people. If they run the trains half full, i.e. average 100 passengers per run, then that would be about 14,000 people a year. I'm going to assume an average ticket price of $22, which is about the midpoint between an adult and child ticket, and from what I've seen they seem to handle a good mix of the two age groups. If these assumptions hold true, SCBT&P has a projected total annual gross revenue of a little over $300,000. This does not count the many special and charter trains they run, including the holiday lights trains, Day Out With Thomas, and other special events...this probably adds another $100,000 or so to their revenue stream. So say they gross $400,000 a year at the gate.

Railroading is an expensive and capital intensive business. As things go, SCBT&P has one of the more challenging physical plants of almost any tourist operation out there. When you start to factor in labor, fuel, insurance, whatever UP charges them to use the line into the Boardwalk, licenses and fees, maintenance of the track and equipment, inspections, mortgage payments (if they have those), etc., that $400,000 gross revenue gets eaten through in short order. Yes, they don't have a substantial capital improvement budget left over to play with...and they definately do have to be choosy about where they spend their capital improvement funds...but those are the kinds of choices all businesses, especially small businesses, have to make. The money simply isn't there to do everything. In a lot of ways, it speaks highly of Roaring Camp management that they have put, and continue to put, the kind of money into the property they do...the amount of work being done on the tunnel alone right now impresses me.

> I'm as much a big trees fan myself but lets be honest with ourselves. Odds are low > Roaring camp or GGRM is gonna win the bid.
>
> Honestly I would Like to see some sort of partnership between the two.

I will say it is difficult for me to see how anyone could make a viable operation of the Santa Cruz branch without Cemex opening back up. Sierra tried, and in the year or so they ran the line they lost about a quarter million dollars. However, there are obviously six parties out there- including Roaring Camp and GGRM- that see some sort of potential I cannot. (However, that would not be the first time I have suffered from a lack of imagination).

I wish all the parties well. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out over the next several years...

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV