C&TSRR Commission Meeting 9-19-05Not good news, the railroad is going to have around 32,000 riders not 45,000 for the 2005 season. They figure this will cause a shortfall of about 800,000 dollars. This may cause the railroad to not have a winter shop program. No discussion on how such a major difference in ridership & income happened or how to make sure it doesn't happen again next year or why the communities were not warned so they could make adjustments to cover 10 to 13 thousand less riders than what they were expecting.I did ask "With such a difference in expected ridership (-29%) and what the actual count is going to be, why were the communities and business within the communities not warned so they could try to make adjustments in their budgets?????" I did not get a answer.The only thing mentioned is other railroads have been contacted and they are not having the same problem.I expect the next meeting Oct. 27,2005 after the final figures are available the commission will make some decisions on what to do and how to do it and hopefully try to put something in place to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.Bottom Line IMHO: A very frustrating day.If you are interested I did take some photos of the meeting.Click on the link below for photos and 2each 360 degree photos as well.
http://chamachoochoo.com/discussion/commission9-19-05/commission.htm