What I Really Worry About at the C&TS

All this discussion prompted by El Pepsi's "Remember when" message got me thinking about the staggering amount of historical rolling stock, equipment, and structures that needs to be preserved and maintained at the C&TSRR. Once one looks beyond the attention-drawing, non-historical, red coaches and considers the huge collection of historical assets of the railroad, the real questions become: just how in the world can all of this unique heritage continue to be preserved, and just how much of it can be rehabilitated as a practical matter?

To get a better sense of the magnitudes involved I went to the C&TSRR filing in the National Register of Historic Places and found that the railroad has 194 pieces of "Moveable Equipment" (e.g., locos, freight cars, MoW, etc.) that qualify as "Contributing Resources" (i.e., historic and protected) and 33 pieces that are specified as "Non-Contributing" (e.g., passenger cars, some MoW). As for Buildings and Structures, there are 48 "Contributing Resources" and 13 "Non-Contributing".

In the long run I worry less about prettying things up too much, and more about simply being able to preserve and protect all these irrreplaceable historic assets from the ravages of time and the elements. For those interested in reading more about the National Register filing try going to the Friends web site. The filing is there as series of "bite-sized" PDFs: www.cumbrestoltec.org/documents.php. Reading it one begins to appreciate just how large an undertaking the preservation of this railroad is for the Friends, the Commission, the CTSMC, the two states, the federal government, and everyone else that is involved.