What Era, Railroads, & Locomotives are you set on?

[Green_Elite_Cab]

That's basically the mission statement of any museum... To Preserve and Interpret artifacts for generations to come.

We have to "leave them" in mothballs so to speak, so that they will not deteriorate for our great grand kid's.. Great grand kids. (That's 6 or 7 generations there) Roughly 150 years.

In the meantime, they try too make them look the same way as they did when they were in operation. Museums would like nothing more than to fire a locomotive, even if they just had it go 400 ft up and down a siding. Great tourist draw!! but they can't. Any wear and tear on an "Original" Locomotive puts "miles (Or Hours) on the entire engine.. The wheels, frames, steam pipes and especially the firebox, boiler and tubing.

It's just not worth it to have 1 or 2 running, and expect it to be in "Historical" shape in 200 - 300 years.... And yeah - I hate it too... But if you get close to some engines.... You can feel the history,... It's a great thing......

I've been lucky enough to volunteer at a local museum (RR Museum of PA).. (Local being a 1-1/4 hour one way trip). I've worked on a few Locos and it's an enriching and enlightening experience...

I suppose i hadn't thought that far into the future. I suppose museums (as we know them) are a "modern" thing. Until people began having free time during the early 1900s, museums probably weren't a common thing. In the case of a steam engine, a machine that is unique even amongst its own class of locomotives, it would be near irreplaceable once it began to wear out.

Still though, I would hate to think that in those 150 years from now, that no one will know the sound of a 4-8-4, or even some of those early diesels and electrics, or the feel of them operating. In a sense, you also loose that history in process of making them static. Its just like the different between an Air show and an air museum. Seeing say, a P51 or a Spitfire sitting in a hangar some place is fascinating, but it doesn't beat seeing one scream over head. computer simulations and models don't even come close.

I wish i could got out to the RRMoPA and tinker with things, but i'm about as far away from there as you are (and there are local railroad history places that can use my help). Still, i'd love to take a walk inside some of the pieces that are normally closed. The GG1 is a no brainer for me, but i'm also curious to see what it is like to stand in the vestibule of a Reading EPA (Green Car) MU, or the cab of that E60MA. One day, maybe. They had the E44 open for Conrail Days last year, so maybe one day I'll get a shot.