How did my name get dragged into this? I will say this, all those other people are more important than I am in the opinion of about everyone except my creditors.
Since the alternative is going back to moving a ton of gravel in my driveway, let me offer a couple of thoughts. Some of my best friends are academics and even historians, but sometimes I wonder about them. I'm justs a practical businessman trained in economics (the dark science).
Preservation is a subset of history. Why does it sometimes make sense to consume original fabric? When consuming original fabric is the most cost effective way to TEACH history. Preservation is not an end it itself, the objective is to be able to document, understand, and maybe even learn from history. Some times I think some of the preservationists forget that.
If there were infinite amounts of funding available, maybe we could do it with replicas, but that is rarely the case.
And scarcity enters into the equation. You probably don't want to "consume" that last bit of original fabric. But if you have several original perhaps it makes since to preserve one and consume the others.
The C&TS is probably also a good example of where consuming original fabric also helps preserve another key piece of history....the human skills to maintain and operate the stuff. History is more than just cold pieces of iron....or wood...or whatever. Again, you could do it with replicas, but who has the money.
The key here in my mind is teaching. Teaching is what museums are all about, whether the visitors understand it that way or not. And learning that is also fun is a win win proposition.
What this tells me is that if the C&TS is going to consume original fabric, they need to justify doing so by teaching history. Right now that is not the case, they are primarily a tourist railroad.
So here we are at the need for a visitors center, or I would rather use the term "interpretive center".
It will be interesting to see what happens. In my view the Commission and the politicians with an interest in the railroad are happy with a tourist railroad that generates some local business, and could care less about consuming original fabric. The Friends are very much into hands-on preservation, but have struggled to create a meaningful interpretation program. Not to sure who is going to drive this bus, but I'm sure willing to buy a ticket and even help push.
Ooops. Wrong thread. These threads are getting confused. Oh well.
Plumber West
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2007 05:42PM by John West.
