My opinon is that the experience is the best way to get a feel for history. Many have told my that they had seen pictures of the Grand Canyon and had no desire to see a hole in the ground and yet I watched the sunset from the south rim in 1970 and was awed by it.
Experiencing the C&TS is akin to to this concept in my humble opinion. Steamtown is a different way of experiencing railroading but is quite good (as is the RR Museum of PA and the California RR Museum). When the EBT (I am very hopeful on their returning more to operation) is completed, it too will be more like a living museum.
I disapproved of the RR Museum of PA archiving PRR 7002 because the boiler material was too thin and to them the actual material was the most important item.
HAVING SAID THAT, the other side of the coin demonstrated by the Western and Atlantic RR locomotive THE GENERAL from Civil War fame. It is in a building in Kennasaw, GA.
If the General historic? When Fuller's raid occured, the General was 5' gauge. She was regauged to standard in about 1880 (whenever all 5' gauge southern RR's were narrowed). Her last freight assignment (if I recall correctly) was on a logging railroad. The pilot had been removed and the boiler had been replaced. So was the tender. The L&N (leasor of the W&A) ran the loco as PR as late as the mid 1960's.
Why was the General saved when almost nothing of the original material is left? There is a continuity of parts such that even though all the parts were replaced at some time, they were never all replaced at once. The details of construction are secondary when most lay people do think that a dimond stack on a K-28 makes it an 1880 era "Wild West" locomotive.
Looking at 463 (back to narrow gauge), how much is original? Baldwin delivered her with a sloped back tender and compound cylinders. Does this make it less historic since the original builders material was removed? I think not. In fact I believe it was 455 that had a standard gauge cab and tender because of a wreck on the RGS (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Steam locos in the US are not extremely rare (I guess there are a thousand or so around the country). I do not believe they all should be restored to operating condition.
Without a National clearing committee with the absolute say so of restoration or not of any locomotive, there will be no coordinated effort to determine if a certain locomotive should be cosmetically restored and stuffed and mounted (like the SRR 1401 in the Smithsonian) or made to operate (like D&RGW 223 or SP 4449 or...).
I do agree that restoration should be accompanied by good documentation (photos, notes, drawings and removed parts if reasonable) saved for future research/access. However since many restoration groups are ad-hoc volunteer groups many do not have an archivist, much is lost.
I would like to see 483 run again (as many elsewhere have said) but I can see the argument to save one K-36 for static display - stuffed and mounted. I can see the argument for the K-37 (here it can be argued that 491 and 499 represent this).
To me the experience or the railroad outweighs the original material. If original material preservation was the goal of the C&TS, then the Chama water tank should never have been rebuilt since most of the material was not reusable and I am glad it was rebuilt.
As there are no operating RGS locos (Geese excluded), I think RGS20 might be a good candidate for restoration. AS there are no narrow gauge ten- wheelers in operation, RGS20 or D&RGW T12 168 or 169 could fill the bill.
I'll get down off my soap box now.
Doug
