The biggest obstacle to cooperation and more networking is some of the giant egos associated with certain locomotives/groups/musuems. To far too many, this is a competitive arena more than anything else, and you can usually spot those by the incessant bragging and the cutting comments about the group down the steet. Egos have also lead to such absurdities as 2 or 3 separate groups within a small geographic area, all trying to fund raise, all trying to build museums, and all trying to raid the others. Some are almost cults, IMO.

That is not to say that networking and cooperation do not exist in this genre at all; in fact, many of the more clear-headed and forward thinking leaders work quite closely together behind the scenes and without fanfare to help insure the future of big steam. There is leadership out there, but you have to look hard to find it sometimes.