NN Best Museum

The great strength of the NN is they have an exceptional executive director, Mark Bassett, with a remarkable vision....to keep the railroad as close to the way it looked when it was "real" as possible. He wants people to look at the yard and see a nitty gritty copper hauling railroad not a painted lady prettied up for the visitors. He is an optimist who thinks that visitors will appreciate authenticity. Of course he has two strong allies. One is a continuing lack of money, since lack of money is one of the major contributors to historic preservation. But, two, he is fortunate to work within an organization that tends to all row the boat in the same direction. I would argue it is the best railway museum on the continent, if "real" is the major criteria.

But the D&S and C&TS are great each in their own way. Different circumstances, different challenges, different opportunities, different approaches. We're fortunate so much has survived, and that we have these choices.

John West



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2007 02:41PM by John West.