Re: SW1500 for Portola?
Author: Mistertower
Date: 10-03-2011 - 13:45
Glad to hear WP Museum in Portola is doing an inventory on their equipment to weed out stuff that doesn't belong to concentrate on something, in this case, the former WP. I wish more organizations would do that. You can't just be a group that goes after every single thing that comes your way. You may, in fantasy, want to and even do so, but reality says you can only do so much with your resources, so why not concentrate on a particular subject? Another example of this is the Monticello Railway Museum in the namesake city in Central Illinois. They are primarily an IC Museum, but also concentrates on what little is left of the IT (Illinois Terminal Railroad). I have seen them turn down several dozens of equipment. The result is, what to me, a very impressive operation and attitude. Their goal is to attempt to have every piece of equipment in operating condition, in good shape, and with the exception of Friction Bearing equipped equipment, be interchangeable with class 1 NS RR. To quote Bill Deskin, retired former SP Engineer and former SP and SSW Trainmaster, "I don't mind things being taken, if they are going to be used somewhere, but taking something just for the purpose of storing it is ridiculous."