Creede,time, money, effort, history & preservation

I've been reading about Don Shank and Creede since he bought the line, and have been wrestling with a bit of a ethical dilemma.
Shank spent over $600,000 on that line to date, is it worth it?
How many engines & cars could have been refurbished to operating condition with that much money?
If someone doesn't preserve that ROW before the tracks are pulled up it will be lost forever. But is it worth the cost to preserve that stretch of track?
If we don't try to preserve the trackage do will we keep making concessions until the only trackage left is only a few miles long?
Should most all preservation efforts be ended in order to concentrate on a few?
If everyone keeps starting small groups to preserve all the various railroads will it spread the $$ too thin and we end up losing more than if we had concentrated on a few?
Should time and effort be spent re-laying track for something like West Side Lumber, Nevada County Narrow Gauge, or Charma to Durango?
I'm not looking for a point-for-point response for any of these questions, just general thoughts.
Seasons Greetings!
Curtis F.