In a post down below, I mentioned a handful of terms that came to mind that most folks use interchangably, but in fact have quite distinct definitions. It is apparent to me that you all are a sophisticated group and are generally aware of the distinctions. One word I forgot which was mentioned in another post is stabilization.
I noted about the third worksession I attended in--1996?--that the Friends accomplished a lot in the time since Bill Lock first encountered the railroad. By 2000, The Friends had given everything on the property a once-over and--speaking broadly here--stabilized it. That is to say most of the serious decay was slowed or stopped and stuff was being fixed and painted.
Since 2000, the work sessions and the Friends have accomplished another couple orders of magnitude of work. One group has branched out and quietly started the interpretation/ archeology work. This is the mapping and signing of the stuff at Cumbres and other locations. The repair and restoration of equipment has taken several steps to include entire rebuilds of cars, similar to the operation in Alamosa in 1923 in some cases. Consulting work has expanded to include the locomotives and right of way, and several members notably have stepped up to accomplish preservaion of the ROW signage, telegraphone booths and trimming of new ROW foliage (the latter is an example of John West's slow change). And now there is an indoor enviornment for long-term projects in Antonito with other buildings under serious discussion in Chama for both preservation and interpretation. This is all quite remarkable, really.
My point is the Friends have worked through stabilization are in renovation/ restoration and are moving rapidly towards interpretation. John--rock on with the latter, please.
Though many will wince at the reference of the CHS, the same is happening in Colorado with the gaming money. After the first 5-8 years, all the decay was arrested, and it was time to spend money on other projects. In CHS's case, this included (wisely, I submit) verbal histories, documenting/ digitizing photo collections and the like. One objective of the 'master plan' is to satisfy a prerequesite for the C&TS/ Friends to apply for gaming funds for future projects. The tide of preservation is rising, even if there are some leaks.
Foam on all.
