As the thread title says, meaningful railroad preservation can be something simple. Here is an example.
Pictured below is a 100' stretch of an old spur that was turned into a garden and walking path (by a private owner, I believe). The spur once served industries in the Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. Industry is long gone on this shore of the lake. It's all modern buildings now. So this little piece of track is the only visible reminder of how things were.
It's a small kind of preservation effort, but a very worthwhile one, I think. It would be great to find similar mini railroad parks like this in other cities.
