Wes is right about indoor storage being needed. Wood cars are especially susceptible to weather damage. Probably why railroads went to all-metal cars. When I visited the Illinois Railway Museum they had a mile and a half of track under cover inside their barns. Additional track was laid out so that adding an additional building when money became available would just be a matter of putting up the building over the track. I talked to one of the volunteers about it and he said "the quickest way to lose volunteers is to have them restore a piece of equipment then three years later ask them to restore that same piece of equipment again". When they do fundraising to acquire a new piece of equipment or to restore a piece already in their collection, the cost of track space inside a building is factored into the overall fundraising goal. I was told they won't start a restoration unless inside space is identified and paid for. Not a bad way of running a museum.

The luxury they have is space. I wish the NCRY had that kind of space to spread out.

See:
[assets0.roadtrippers.com]