John Cole makes a good point that the SHPO's reaction to reconstructing the Cumbres Snowshed made little sense, especially when examined against the actual "Reconstruction" Standards that the C&TSRR has to conform to as a Historic Site. At the end of this post I've pasted in the Standards. The Osier and Chama water tanks have been reconstructed in conformity with those Standards, so why not the Snowshed? (Maybe Dave Ferro knows).
Be that as it may, as one can see from the Standards, reconstructing the Chama Roundhouse would be counterproductive for the reasons Charlie Mutschler made in his post. Instead, the sensible alternative would be to build a typical roundhouse whose form follows the functions required for maintaining steam locos (e.g., accommodate the requirements for the K-36's, etc.) -- just don't try to pretend it's the original roundhouse (which no one ought to want to do anyhow).
-------------------------------------------------------
Dept. of Interior Reconstruction Standards.
From [
www.nps.gov]
1. Reconstruction will be used to depict vanished or non-surviving portions of a property when documentary and physical evidence is available to permit accurate reconstruction with minimal conjecture, and such reconstruction is essential to the public understanding of the property.
2. Reconstruction of a landscape, building, structure, or object in its historic location will be preceded by a thorough archeological investigation to identify and evaluate those features and artifacts which are essential to an accurate reconstruction. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
3. Reconstruction will include measures to preserve any remaining historic materials, features, and spatial relationships.
4. Reconstruction will be based on the accurate duplication of historic features and elements substantiated by documentary or physical evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different features from other historic properties. A reconstructed property will re-create the appearance of the non-surviving historic property in materials, design, color, and texture.
5. A reconstruction will be clearly identified as a contemporary re-creation.
6. Designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed.
