Campo Railroad Museum Pics

Apparently you've not been around to the back of many railroad museums.

They nearly all have far more stuff lying around than they can afford to maintain in good running condition, and if you look into how much it costs to maintain -and fuel- a typical diesel locomotive (Not to mention a steam engine!) on an annual basis you will understand why this is so.

Most railroad museums try to keep a certain amount of their stuff running, but they do so almost entirely by dint of volunteer labor and contributions, and to complain that the places don't look neat enough to suit you only demonstrates your ignorance of financial realities.

Far better a somewhat threadbare museum that's at least *trying* to preserve some of our railroading heritage for future generations than simply melting the stuff down for scrap metal recycling -with no thought for history.

~Pete

So you're saying it doesn't look like a scrap yard?

It looks like a railroad museum. And saying it looks like a scrapyard insults all the folks who work their collective asses off to keep it functioning.

BTW: next time you're about to try putting words into someone else's mouth, consider first the ones that come from your own.

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Museum Definition:

According to the ICOM Statutes, adopted during the 21st General Conference in Vienna, Austria, in 2007:

"A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.

This definition is a reference in the international community."

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Sorry. Nothing in there about "valuable things" at all, and the museum at Campo fulfills all the other requirements quite nicely.

Of course you're free to found your own railroad museum and run it according to whatever rules you wish, but you aren't free to redefine the word "museum" -or set the rules- for the rest of the world.

That 44 tonner on blocks begs modeling!

I remember the 2-6-6-2 they had from my visit there sometime in the '90s. I see from the web site they're still waiting for funds to restore it to operating condition. I'd like to see that one under steam.

Me too.

The Campo museum is almost entirely funded by contributions these days -what with government grants having dried up for the obvious reasons- so it could be a long time before that old girl sees steam again.

~Pete