Re: DSP&P 191-CRRM video

Posted by Dave Eggleston on Jun 18, 2021; 7:19pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/DSP-P-191-CRRM-video-tp16627p16751.html

"How historic would the engine be after completely replacing the boiler? "

But what exactly is historic, to be honest? As the threads discuss, there is no one answer to this. Do you take it back to its origins, to later phases, leave it in its decayed state? No matter what you do, people will be unhappy. And while to just cosmetically restore the engine for static display is better than where it is today, is that really historic when you consider that it was an operational steam machine? To me historic is far deeper than skin appearance. Which means I'd love to see 191 restored and functional, with all original non-functional parts archived but replaced as accurately as possible as a fantastic addition to our experience, even it's not to the era we may prefer.

These artifacts stuffed on a plinth are intriguing but missing so much. There is real joy in seeing operational, as close to original engines such as Eureka, Tahoe or Inyo. The experience of the sounds, smells and movement elevate things. These restorations included in-depth analysis and protection of what existed, saving a great deal of information that could have been lost (as we see in many earlier "restorations").

Heck, I'm damn happy that a fellow in Texas (I think) has been building, from scratch, a reproduction of the very early V&T engine Lyon to as close as possible standards as possible, in close association with the NSRM. Lyon and the other very properly done modern restorations show 191 can be made operational and all the remaining bits properly archived for future historians to research but this requires a giant mental leap from insisting on original versus operational to considering a properly managed hybrid. I say it's worth the leap.