I don't know. I've gone through their 990s and the documentation I could find. Then I went down there in July looking for this "smoking gun" of apparent mismanagement. Talking to staff it seemed clear that their rate of collection had greatly slowed, which was good, and they were focusing on the core business, i.e. passenger revenue, and doing dashingly well at it.

What I did not see was flood damage. Either there was no flood, or their remediation work was top-drawer. Now, FEMA promises to reimburse costs of remediation, but they absolutely require the work be done a rather expensive way. (because they also want to simultaneously advance a bunch of other government agendas, such as creating jobs in disaster areas, equal opportunities, buy-American, free trade, and anything else you can think of.) It's real common for organizations to go out and borrow money to have this work done, betting their business on FEMA's promise to repay. But unless you're a professional FEMA claim-filer (hurricane chaser?) there are so many tricks and traps in the deal that it's easy to screw up, FEMA denies, and either you can fix it (dot more i's) or you cannot (had volunteers do some of the work). And this takes years to sort out finally, often with you being "led on" believing you will ultimately be paid, when you will not. Yet your contractors want to be paid ASAP (and if they've ever done FEMA work, they certainly asked for the money up front)... so there you are in the middle.

It's easy to sit there and monday morning quarterback that, but it's wrong - having studied many "disasters in slo-mo", and been in the middle of a few myself. Personally I wouldn't touch government money with a 10 foot pole unless my organization was hardy enough to eat the entire loss. But that too is a loss of potential revenue.

IMO this is the source of their current problems. They're between a rock (FEMA) and a hard place (the bank). Given enough time, they certainly have the revenue stream to pay this debt, and that may well be what ultimately happens. The bank is stuck behind a golden goose, with no choice but wait patiently for eggs to drop. Murdering the goose, liquidating KRM, would be senseless and evil and would not get them paid, so it isn't gonna happen. As for KRM, they will either abandon the FEMA claim, or they will get it after they've gotten their financial footing back, so it'll effectively be FEMA lotto money, and they can go on a buying spree all over again.

Or, preferably, a car-house building spree. Their stuff is deteriorating badly. I also see no land suitable for carbarns, at least none in New Haven proper. Their "triangle" appears to be all flood-plain land, and that's no place to build a carbarn.

In regards to the concerns on the GP-7, it was traded for RS-4-TC switchers #4044 and #4010. I'm not aware of if any cash was given to either place in the process. I will say that the LTEX #309 is being repainted as an L&N geep, but not in the blue and cream colors people are hoping for. It is a black "early paint scheme" for the gees. You can see pics here: https://www.facebook.com/BringChangeToT ... =3&theater
The Monon is also considered unreliable since it breaks down in the middle of excursions all the time. Its current issue is the fuel and oil mixing together and the unit shuts itself down.

Swade -

Is it then the plan to replace the Monon diesel on the passenger train with the L&N black Geep?


Les

Although the museum wouldn't consider it official, that seems to be the case, as the GP-7 is currently used on almost every excursion, even over 2546 (which was pretty much the only diesel they used regularly for the last 5-6 years). Even when they considered the Monon "reliable" it was only used every 5-6 weeks. There are rumors the museum will sell the Monon to avoid trouble with it. Personally I doubt this will happen. I also personally think in a few years they may consider selling 2546 though, especially since it doesn't have anything to do with Kentucky history; then again neither does any of their currently operating passenger cars.

Moving on to a bit of a different topic, does anyone out there know why/how the museum even acquired 2546? I've heard it was purchased while they were in Louisville but I don't know why since at the time they had the Monon and their Alco S-1 switcher #7374. I also saw I believe on this thread why not thin the museum's collection, which I completely agree with. Let's face it, they currently have 15 coaches they own. Of those 15, 7 are L&N and two are probably considered important (those being the generator coach and their diner coach). Why not sell the others? Even if all 15 were restored, the most they use at a time on an extremely busy day is 6 maybe 7. Let's be honest, the Sea Breeze, CMPA, and FICX coach are never going to be used at the museum, so I don't know why they hold on to them.