OK ~ Social commentary, The Invisible Obvious 101.
WE are freaks. Freaks being defined as those out of "the norm". Normal being defined as what is considered average, and in this case, we are talking about average behavior defining average people. And average people, we railfans are not!
That said, most of "us" would prefer NOT being tossed in with the "average" masses. Something about eccentrics makes them darn happy to be a little out of center.
But the reality is that average human behavior centers around fornication and intoxication. These being the root motives of most human energy spent. Think about it!
Be they steam trains, old cars, telephone lines, or early lanterns, there are a grand total of six people on the face of the Earth who give a flying sh-t, and the rest are just happy as a pig in poop to see a "close facsimile, thereof" and then go get drunk and try to get ... well you know ... Get the kids to soccer or a hair appointment, right! Of those six people who care, four are probably on this list, and the other two are more into lanterns of something equally as cool and unmoving to the masses. Movies aren't made to document the critical minutia of history. Hell no, ... they are made to give the masses that warn-n-fuzzy feel (intoxication / fornication) and induce high box office yields (more I & F) and cause guys like Disney exec Michael Eisner to be paid more than the gross national product of the Solomon Islands ( the ultimate I & F) in a single year!!!
The interest on that money for 24 hours alone would restore every NG steam locomotive in America, but does a single soul care? Not the single souls who have this money kicking around, and certainly not the masses of souls who made Eisner's payoff possible. No, they are too busy buying limited edition Disney tapes and seeing little Trevor or Kayla to daycare. Who cares about greasy, yucky things like that ?
Yup, ... you got it! ... all six of us!
