Preservation’s crossroads: They’ve forgotten why we saved this stuff

Two events this week snapped me back to reality from the good mood I was in after attending the Savannah, Ga., conference of the Association of Tourist Railroads & Railway Museums (which is rebranding itself Heritage Rail Alliance — more on that later) and a stop in Plains, Ga., to attend President Carter’s church and visit the depot that was his campaign headquarters 40 years ago. http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archive/2016/11/14/a-visit-with-jimmy-carter-and-the-plains-ga-depot-are-good-for-me.aspx

 The first was a good news bad news development in Hammond, Ind., where Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 624, on display for more than 60 years, will find a home with the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, keepers and operators of well-traveled NKP 2-8-4 No. 765. That, of course, is the good news. Fort Wayne has been an excellent steward of No. 765 for more than 40 years, and has run the engine on the main line for much of that time. I’ve not seen No. 624, but the photos I saw depict a weary, rusting, jacketless, and pretty much unloved locomotive. I commend the folks in Hammond for realizing they weren’t interested in preserving the locomotive and putting her into the hands of someone who is. The Fort Wayne group is interested in a permanent home for 765 in the downtown area, and this locomotive would make a fine addition.

 Meanwhile, in St. Louis comes word that the county is laying off employees at the Museum of Transport and looking to transfer the operation and its assets to a private non-profit over the next five years. Hopefully, this is not a fire sale, but a well-planned move from government operation to private non-profit. It needs to be. The museum collection is world class with significant pieces of rolling stock from across the country. I’ve been watching it from afar for years, and I’ve seen a lot of cosmetic restorations in recent years. Maybe the non-profit is a good fundraiser and this will be a long-term move for survival. I hope so.

 While we were in Savannah last week with more than 200 railway preservationists from across North America and overseas, we took a field trip to nearby Hardeeville, S.C., where that community is struggling for support to cosmetically restore Argent Lumber Co. No. 7, a narrow gauge 2-8-0 built by Porter in 1911. Years ago, Argent Lumber Co. was this community’s lifeblood, but not today. The locomotive sits next to the chamber of commerce and adjacent to a new library under construction. It has been here since 1960. At least this locomotive is under a cover, but it deserves a better fate than slowly eroding in the elements.

 In all three instances, the communities that collected and displayed these locomotives and other pieces of rolling stock have largely forgotten why they saved them. You’d think it would be enough to have such large objects around, but that’s not the case. The folks that understood and cared are gone. In their place are post-railroad culture Americans. In an age when government resources are tight and the demands on those resources are high, it is going to be a tough struggle for the iron horse. This isn’t the first time these things have happened, and, I hate to admit it, it surely won’t be the last, either. Like the niece or nephew who inherited family heirlooms from Uncle Bob or Aunt Bess, kept the items for years, and then passed them along to his or her kids who have zero interest, we've reached a preservation crossroads: They've forgotten why we saved this stuff.