While I can see how business was lost while the train was blocking the crossing, It would be a stretch to believe that BNSF deliberately stopped the train at this crossing. Also, IMO the Ren Festers apparently have no idea of how a railroad operates, otherwise they would recognize a member of the train crew checking for busted knuckles or air hoses. I'm sorry they lost, oh, 45 minutes' worth of business out of one whole day in their festival, but if you're holding a function next to railroad tracks, you have to expect that something like this might happen. Happily, as Doug stated, there wasn't a derailment. To me, it's not so much "evil media" and "evil festival" more than "ignorant media" and "festival with no clue about how railroads operate". The festival holders, IMO, are prusuing this legal action out of emotion and reaction to a train delay, not facts. MY two cent's worth.........but as others have said, let the thing play out in court.
I have to disagree. There's something missing here, which I do not recall seeing mentioned. An intermediate step. The Festival sitting down with BNSF, and the two sides simply talking. Instead, it appears they've gone directly to litigation. That's not business. It's vindictive. And that language quoted by media supports my contention. Makes me wonder if they were just waiting for a chance to pounce. :sad: Boxcab E50
Well, this all hinges on whether the train crew did or did not have a legitimate reason to stop the train where they did. If they did, then this lawsuit will be kicked out of court. If they didn't, then probably BNSF will settle for most of the amount demanded. As for us...we have a few snippets of information that are obviously imcomplete. We don't know the facts. It does seem likely that if the conductor was walking the train, he was looking for a saftey issue. If that was the case, then the lawyers who wrote that complaint are gonna look very dumb. Maybe that will educate some people. If not, then their arrogance will increase even more. oh well Most people are just too damn selfish to learn about anything that doesn't directly concern them. Hence the near universal ignorance of rather common sense facts about railroads. (Facts that can pretty much be summed up as "the heaviest man-made moving objects on land require careful handling and respect from passers-by.") The poor journalism just reflects the nearsightedness of the general population, most of whom will just never think about the difficulties of handling an object weighing thousands of tons.
Steve, My understanding is even though you and I could take the long detour via some of the back roads, emergency equipment such as a fire truck could not make it via those routes. The other issue is the backups along that road basically make it impossible to get cars turned around safely. This is a Google Earth image where the two BLACK lines represent the RR tracks and BNSF was on the left line blocking not only the road to the "Renaisance Festival" but also into Larkspur, CO itself. Has anyone heard an official BNSF statement or are they, as one would expect, not commenting right now due to the legal process?
If the tables were turned, would the carrier be so inclined to talk before turning the lawyers loose?? I think we know the answer to that!!!!
It would be a different scenario. If motor vehicles blocked the RR, they might be able to pursue the fair. But blame would also fall upon local authorities, as the responsible party for that road is government. Boxcab E50
I mentioned this issue to my sister last night and she recalled that the Festival had been bought by new owners a couple years ago. Right after the new owners took over, they began harrassing the city in regard to expected free services they felt they were entitled to, up to and including suing the City of Larkspur. So... it does seem like these folks are indeed chomping at the bit to persue legal action. Having said that, they do haul in about 10,000 people per operating day at 17.95 per adult entrant. Not including refreshments and other expenses that's a huge amount of money. I'd be suing too. Loss of revenue just isn't frivolous. Now as to sitting down and talking to BNSF, they probably are doing that behind the scenes. As someone else mentioned, we have very little info to go on. Lets just sit back and see what happens.
