This thread has raised the thread of cosmetic display of steam engines. I work for a maritime museum, in our field almost everything is restored for display only. It is just too difficult to return say a 100 foot long tug boat to operation. If a small steam engine like an 0-4-0 is in a museum there might be some one there to talk about it. What we in the museum business call Inturpretation. The story may be a simple as a coal mine or industrial switcher, but it is a real story. And there will never be any more of them!
I am here for steam not Diesels; steam powered the 19th and a good part of the 20th centuries. Steam can be safe but difficult; cosmetic display is sometimes all that you can do. Far better to do that than cut up the engine!


ted_miles@NPS.gov