In Eric's editorial on the Fort Collins Municipal Railway I read one statement that needs correction. The FRA did not red tag the wheels on our street car. As Master Mechanic I made the decision that they needed replacing. The original wheels, last replaced in 1946 were cast iron and were worn past the hardened chill cast layer. Since the original wheels were cast iron they could not be built up and meet FRA regulations. As they were the original wheels were grandfathered. We ended up having to get new steel wheels made and since we are inspected and considered non insular by the FRA it was necessary that they be AAR/FRA certified which did add to the cost. The new wheels we had made are also multi use wheels that can be re-turned several times if needed. They will last much longer than I will ever have to worry about them. We always have been and are still now a first class act here on the Fort Collins Municipal Railway. The standards we hold our selves to are much higher than required by the FRA. In the now 10 years we have been inspected by the FRA, they have never found a defect in our track or equipment. I have visited many trolly museums and I have yet to see any thing that matches the quality of our operation.

On September 30th I drove the last revenue run of the 2001 season and put Car #21 up for the season. During the 2001 season we hauled a little over 8000 passengers and though we are a 1 horse operation we had less than 15 minutes of unscheduled down time for the entire season. Since we only have one car, it requires extra care to make sure little problems are taken care of before they become big ones. This is how we maintain the availability record we have archived.

As to future expansion, one project we are now looking at is the extension of the line to the old trolley barn at the intersection of Cherry and Howes Streets. Last winter we installed track in the old barn and hope to one day soon connect it to our existing end of line at Mountain and Howes.

Roger Mitchell
Master Mechanic
Fort Collins Municipal Railway
Vice President
Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club DE N0MCR


n0mcr@netzero.com

> In Eric's editorial on the Fort Collins
> Municipal Railway I read one statement that
> needs correction. The FRA did not red tag
> the wheels on our street car. As Master
> Mechanic I made the decision that they
> needed replacing....

The standards we hold our
> selves to are much higher than required by
> the FRA. In the now 10 years we have been
> inspected by the FRA, they have never found
> a defect in our track or equipment. I have
> visited many trolly museums and I have yet
> to see any thing that matches the quality of
> our operation.

I thank Roger most sincerely for this correction and apologize for the misinterpretation. As I hope the editorial made clear I think very highly of the FCMR and did not mean to malign their maintenance standards in any way.

I will rephrase the incorrect passage in the article and post the correction, though it may take a few more days due to upheaval in the Ledbetter household.

eledbetter@rypn.org