Dan,
now you're talkin'!
Tomorrow, today will be history. It seems unlikely Nine will change very much from today, tomorrow. Therefore Nine will probably be historically correct, tomorrow, for today! In other words, dear foamers, Nine is already historically correct!
I'm not talking to Dan in particular - I'm talking to all of you (without malice).
Nine IS the prototype and her history is still being written! So how can she not be historically correct?
Oh! You want to make her historically correct for 1939! Or was it 1937? Why not 1927? Why not 1918? We've already had "votes" for 1902 but ya know, 1910 wasn't all that different except the Entwined Herald would be incorrect. Oh heck! Let's just go back to 1898 or 1890! I know! Let's go clear back to AS BUILT!
What? Huh? We can't?
You're RIGHT! We can't!
She was an oil burner in 1902! But not in 1937! She had a straight stack - sans ANY spark arrestor in 1914 - But not 1915! I don't recall a backup light ever being seen on her but that doesn't mean there wasn't!
Are you beginning to see a pattern here? If you know anything at all about C&Sng motive power (and some of you claim to) you know they changed almost daily - or at least every time they went into the shops! You want historical accuracy? read the last lines I just wrote: THAT is the truth about historical accuracy!!! Get it!? Now live on it!
You can never got back. If you think you can look at a few photos and say "that's how she looked in 1937? Bull! That's how she looked on the days those photos were taken, in 1937. You didn't see her the next day when for some inexplicable reason they took the beartrap OFF!(yes, I used rail fan slang!)
Some of you people think you understand history. Some of you do. Some of you don't!
OK bring it on. Even Negative attention is still attention.
And BTW, ARF!
Derrell
