Steam & Preservation

If the economic challenges for railroad museums were not enough..I hope if and when these sociopaths not if,...but when they are collared,, they are handed a hammer, nails, a brush, and some buckets of paint..in addition to mommy and daddy making suitable reparations.. What's needed next for outdoor displays..concertina wire? One wonders what sort, if any, of security systems non profit museums have. Another expense, but one wonders if they would receive a lowered insurance premium in return?..

http://www.courant.com/community/windham/wtic-railroad-museum-vandalism-1104-pictures,0,224448.photogallery

This makes me think about years back when the Minnesota State Fair used to have a model railroad exhibit housed in it's own smallish wood building. Nothing fancy, just a nice moderate-sized HO layout with several trains running. The guy who ran it only charged $1 for entrance, kids 12 and under free as I recall.

One winter night some people (who as I recall were never caught) broke in and destroyed the layout. The owner couldn't afford the time, effort or money to fix the layout. Twice a year the Twin City Model RR Club/Museum has a flea market at a building in the fairgrounds, and every time I go I see the old building sitting there, unused for something like 25 years now.

Sometimes I think we have trouble wrapping our heads around the fact there there are people who would do something like this.  Since we just can't see it happening to us, we don't prepare.

We've had our problems, too, including sabotage.