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| C&S #74 the Center of Lawsuit https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28225 |
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| Author: | tomgears [ Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | C&S #74 the Center of Lawsuit |
Saw this come through on my narrow gauge rss feed. The whole situation with the Colorado Historical Society seems to just get worse and worse. http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_13448454 |
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| Author: | Stephen S. Syfrett [ Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: C&S #74 the Center of Law Suit |
See also the thread "Boulder CO Steam Engine" for same article. |
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| Author: | Jason Midyette [ Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: C&S #74 the Center of Lawsuit - a long and sad story |
Obviously, the pending legal fun and games prevent getting onto specifcs regarding the aleegations etc. Anyway, here is a basic outline of how C&N 30 / C&S 74 / RGS 74, one of Colorado's most historically signifigant narrow gauge locomotives, came to be in its present sad state. In 1996, the city of Boulder Colorado's Parks & Recreation Department (which owns the locomotive) formed a citizens committee to determine what should be done with the locomotive and the coach (D&RGW 280) and caboose (D&RGW 04990) that were displayed with it in Boulder's Central Park. At the time, the equipment had become a dilapidated display in need of major work, despite the efforts of many volunteers over the years. From this committee, a Master Plan was developed by the City (and adopted by the Parks Advisory Board in 1997) calling for the equipment to be restored to operating condition and moved to a more secure display site upon completion of the restoration. In 1997, the Boulder County Railway Historical Society was formed to work with the City on the restoration project. The first step was taken in 1998, when the BCRHS funded the restoration of the locomotive's headlight and cleand up the equipment and secured it to prevent further damage. The guiding principle of the restoration project was to do it in steps that could be completely accomplished before moving onto the next step and avoid having the locomotive end up like so many others in peices with no real hope of reassembly. Denver & Rio Grande Western coach 280 was chosen as the first major project as it was in the most prcarious condition. In 1999, the city received a grant from Colorado's State Historical Fund to restore the coach. The grant was for aound $125,000 and the city and the BCRHS provided matching funds, bringing the total cost to around $165,000. Uhrich Locomotive Works of Strasburg Colorado was chosen by the city (following a standard bid process) as the contractor for the restoration. (Uhrich had also dne the headlight restoration funded by the BCRHS) Uhrich successfully completed the restoration (on budget) in 2001 and the coach was moved to the Georgetown Loop Railroad, where it operated during the 2001 season, and then to the Colorado Railroad Musem in Golden, where it remains in use today. The next project was to remove the asbestos from #30/74's boiler, perform a hydrotest on the boiler and have a mechanical evaluation performed on the locomotive to determine a scope of work and budget for the operational restoration. This was completed in 2000 or so. Diversified Steam Services (probably remembering the name wrong) completed the evaluation and provided a scope of work and estimated cost (around $400,000) to restore the locomotive to operation condition. The tender then became the next pahse of the restoration effort and was completely restored by Uhrich in 2002-2003, again using a State Historical Fund Grant, for a total cost of around $60,000. Again the work was completed on time and on budget. The BCRHS had previously provided the matching funds for a grant to repair the lead truck on the tender, this work too was completed on time and on budget by Uhrich. The tender ended up being used on the Georgetown Loop during 2006 as the tender for Colorado & Southern 2-6-0 #9. In 2003, it became apparent that funding for a complete operational restoration of the locomotive would not be forthcoming anytime soon, so the city and the BCRHS decided to apply for a grant to cosmeticaly restore the locomotive so that it would be put back together and look good once again. The grant was applied for in October of 2003, with a budget of $54,000. Uhrich provided the estimate for the work, based upon the locomotive's condition at that time. In early 2004, the Colorado Historical Society approached the City of Boulder about the possibility of leasing the locomotive for use on the Georgetown Loop Railroad. The CHS proposed to pay for the operational restoration of the locomotive, and return it to the city operational, in return for being able to use it on the Loop for 10 seasons following completion of the restoration. Again the project was to be phased, with an evaluation of the locomoive to be performed by the restoration contractor prior to beginning work. The budget and scope of work for the operational restoration were to be developed based upon the evaluation. If the evaluation showed thathe locomotive either could not be made operational or would cost too much, the CHS was to pay to reassemble the locomotive and return it to the City, which would then complete the cosmetic restoration, using the State Historical Fund grant. (the grant was awarded to the city in the midst of negotiations with the CHS about leasing the locomotive). In August of 2004, the CHS and City chose Uhrich as the restoration contractor for the locomotive and it was moved from Boulder to Strasburg. Uhrich was paid around $50,000 to evaluate the locomotive, which involved (as it should) considerable dissasembly. Uhrich stated that the locomotive could be restored to operation and provided a budget for the work. A contract was signed and work began. Then things got ugly. The CHS, desparate for motive power for the Loop moved C&S #9 to Uhrich. Uhrich determined that #9 could be restored quicker than #30/74 and it was placed ahead of Boulder's locomotive in priority. Urich kept working on both locomotives. THen, #111 an outside framed former International Railways of Central America 2-8-0 owned by the City of Breckenridge, was moved back to Uhrich for an operational restoration. (Uhrich had recently completed a cosmetic restoration of teh locomotive for Breckenridge and the CHS and Breckenridge had come to some sort of lease agreement for 111) 111 too was placed ahead of #30/74 and Uhrich was working on three locomotives at the same time. C&S #9 was completed in 2006 and moved to the Georgetown Loop. #111 reamins at Uhrich and seems to still be being worked on. In late 2006, it was determined that it would be too cost prohibitive to continue the operational restoration of #30/74 and Uhrich provided a bid to reassemble the locomotive to a point that the previously awarded grant could be used to finish the cosmetic restoration. Uhrich was awarded the contract to reasseble the locomotive and work was to be completed in early 2007. In 2007, the city began a process to award the contract for the cosmetic restoration of the locomotive. Uhrich was one of the bidders on the cosmetic restoration, which was ultimatley awarded to West Side Locomotive Works of Denver Colorado. Uhrich's completion of the reassebly was delayed and not completed until October of 2007. The locomotive was moved to West Side in October of 2007. Work on the cosmetic restoration has been delayed due to the condition that the locomotive arrived at west side in. From there, the newspaper basically has it correct. In the interest of disclosure, I was a member of the 1996 committee, helped write the master plan, was one of the founders of the BCRHS, wrote all of the grant applications for the project and worked for the city of Boulder as the project manager and am still volunteering on the restoration of D&RGW 04990 (which was damaged in an arson fore in 2007 and then moved to the BCRHS's display site, we began work to rebuild it for the city this summer) Jason Midyette |
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| Author: | tomgears [ Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: C&S #74 the Center of Lawsuit |
Jason, Thanks for taking the time to type all of that out and sharing the information. There are lessons to be learned here. I keep thinking about the old saying- "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". It sounds like Uhrich has a history of doing good work. I wonder about the multitude of missing parts. It seems like CHS was just throwing one narrow gauge locomotive after another at Uhrich. |
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| Author: | Stationary Steam [ Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: C&S #74 the Center of Lawsuit |
One phrase comes immediately to mind. "Don't change horses midstream". Ulrich should have been selected to complete the cosmetic restoration of the locomotive. It is crazy to bring another party in at this stage of the game. |
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