I live in a small town in central Pennsylvania, and consider that good fortune. My kids were able to safely walk to school by themselves. They could ride their bikes wherever they wanted to go, they could play at a playground, mess around in the creek, etc., etc. We visited New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, etc. from time to time, riding public transit in each city, visiting historic sites and museums, etc.

When each was 15, they had the opportunity to visit and spend time with family friends living in Europe, travelling by themselves. Neighbors asked "How could you let them go?" My answer was "How could I deny them this opportunity?" They are now both happy, well-adjusted and successful adults, living in major cities, and both have travelled enough to know their way around the world. By the way, they still enjoy regular visits to "Mayberry."

Would I be the rail preservationist and historian I am today if every such loco were encased in amber or glass? We'll never know, but I have my doubts........


Bravo.. but you risk bringing back the "operation does violence to the "museology" crowd. That is causis belli to them. You'll reignite wars from the early days of RYPN...

However, I like to acknowledge reality. There's plenty of slip & fall types out there with Wordperfect pleading wizards (Corel's word processor survives in part because it has/had a large following in law firms,long after Microsoft's Word was lingua franca) just waiting to turn a fall or cut into an actionable claim.

Unfortunately, we can't subject the pharisees of the bar association to the laws they impose on everybody else-starting with restraint of trade and RICO charges...

Unsupervised, open access is a recipe for a lawsuit.. and money is REALLY tight among state and local governments.