Reference was made to the CRRM as a "model railroad" In reality it is a non profit historical museum that operates historic narrow gauge equipment. A lot of thought goes into restoration. What period do we want to restore the piece of equipment to, as built, what it was when received on the property, or to a specific date? No matter what is decided, there will always be a few that will argue that the restoration is incorrect, or was uncalled for. When the Museum repainted the F units, you should have heard the complaints that we used the wrong stripe scheme. Any one of the stripe paint schemes would have been correct depending on what time frame you painted it to. When the C&S leased 346 they put half flanges on the 2nd & 3rd driver sets. According to Bob Richardson, this was due to the sorry condition of the track. From Denver into Waterton Canyon, Bob said 346 would derail several times. Flanging the drivers kept 346 on the track. As far as I can determine the D&RG had all the 2nd & 3rd driver sets "blinded" on their 2-8-0s. There was a lot of "slop" in the running gear of 346. When Linn Moedinger got 346 he said if he rebuilt the running gear on 346 it would make it too rigid to go around the Museum's tight curves if the half flanges were retained. The half flanges were removed and the running gear was partially rebuilt. 346 tracks fine around the CRRM's loop. This flange removal caused dissention among some of the volunteer corps. The steel cab was retained. The new tender is stainless steel. That's not historically correct, but a coat of paint will cover it up and no one will know, unless you have a magnet. You have to keep the historic integrity of the equipment, but we have to compromise in some instances. How about a 1956 Chevrolet engine in Goose 7 that replaced the GMC, that replaced the Ford flathead, that replaced the Pierce Arrow motor?
