Re: My grandfathers axe

Things wear out. You replace them. You get on with the job.

If you were to suggest to a working railroader that he (or she) should not replace worn out components in order to preserve the "historical fabric", you would be, at best, laughed off the property.

I think that railroads, such as the Rio Grande, fully understood the principle. Otherwise they would still be using 3 60-class consolidations to move 12 cars up the 4%. Indeed, things do wear out, as they are intended to. Technology improves, so that flags are replaced by telegraphs that are supplanted by telephones which in turn are superseded by radio.

The C&TS provides the visitor with a decent approximation of what one railroad looked like in the late 1940's. About 60 years later, modifications to meet the new role of the railroad, as well as needed upkeep and operational changes (such as using a front-end loader in lieu of the coaling tower) of course change the experience. And often it's no longer as it once was.

In the attempt to preserve the site, we can attempt to restore what is gone. One way is to restring the telegraph wires. But then do you REALLY expect the DS to give up radio communications and go back to using the telegraph? (Assuming, of course, that he or she even knows anything about Philip's code.) Restringing the wires is nice (and I fully support it) but the fact is that the C&TS is a modern day operation that exists to allow it's customers to experience what it MIGHT have been like back in the day.

But an approximation is the best we can do, since we cannot turn back the clock, much as we would like to. Therefore some compromises have to enter the equation. And I feel that that is not such a bad thing...