Re: The Book of Dreams

Except for a few peripheral people, the folks at Steamtown are NOT actors. They are doing their jobs, but they have been trained to explain their tasks to visitors. Steam railroading today exists in something of a vacuum, in that most people have no idea that their forebears did hard, dirty, nasty work in a steel mill, a coal mine, a spinning mill, or whatever, and steam railroading today is one of the few vocations that has not been lost forever or so changed by technology that it doesn't resemble its elemental form. It is our responsibility to help visitors understand that steam railroading is a link to the industrial past which demonstrates a working environment not unlike that experienced by many in the past . If we expect the railroad to be an educational and enlightening experience for visitors, we must learn to give it context to which the visitors can relate. We must make a connection beyond a few minutes or hours of entertainment. The sanitized version of railroading a la "Thomas" or Disney is no more "real" than Williamsburg is real.