'Wouldn’t it be great if ….'

Illinois Railway Museum's Frisco 2-10-0 No. 1630 rolls on the museum's trackage. Jim Wrinn photo.

UNION, Ill. — The annual meeting of the Association of Tourist Railroads and Railroad Museums begins in Northern Illinois today. Trains will be on hand to visit with friends in the business of preservation, and we’ll enjoy the hosting of the Illinois Railway Museum.

The conference usually attracts 200-300 volunteers, professionals, and support industry folks from across North America and around the world. It’s a great time to attend seminars, learn from each other, and network. I’ve been going since 1997 when I attended my first meeting in Strasburg, Pa. Working with my home museum, the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, I helped organize the 2001 meeting, and working with Trains in 2008, helped organize that meeting as well. I look forward to these gatherings because they always provide a chance to catch up with friends, meet new people, and stay connected to the changing world of railway preservation.

Between the formal presentations and the official business is the time to wheel and deal, speculate, and make new connections and build new partnerships. Somewhere along the way, and I will guarantee that it will happen, someone will utter a five-word phrase that will change things: “Wouldn’t it be great if …”

I know someone will say this. I’ve said it. I’ve heard others say it. That statement may change the fate of a locomotive or passenger car. Or it may change someone’s career. It could even change the future for an entire railroad or even the outlook for the whole preservation industry. Later we’ll regret or rejoice in having uttered those words. But mostly, I think we’ll be glad we did. We’re optimists in charge of making sure that railroading of the past has a future.