Re: Changing History

It is tough to get too excited about this sort of thing. Change is inevitable, the best one can hope for is that it gets managed intelligently. However one difference between the Silverton and the C&TS is the C&TS is publically owned and at least technically has some responsibility for this "museum" thing. Which can be different things to different people. And obviously some could care less. So my expectations are low.

Since the Friends are presumably in charge of the museum thing (their leg of the old triad I guess) I hope they step back from time to time and look at the big picture. To what extent is the C&TS any kind of meaningful representation of its history. Does it really interpret history, or is it just a joy ride for tourists and some boys toys for the Friends. And obviously that is a huge judgement call with a lot of reasonably "correct" answers. Again, I have low expectations.

My advantage/disadvantage is I am one of a rapidly shrinking population who remember the real DRGW. So I see how pervasive the change is.

The really interesting issue is going to be when people like me are no longer around, is anyone really going to notice the change. Or is the then current reality going to be assumed to be historic. I suppose the worst case scenario is when folks start assuming the Disneyland and Santa Fe is a meaningful representation of how railroads helped open the American west, and so on.

A large part of our current economic problem is few voters and politicians have taken the time to learn the lessons of the Great Depression, and we are making the same mistakes all over again. Understanding history can be important.

JBWX