Friend last night brought up an interesting point: What are insurance companies likely to ALLOW someone like the B&O Museum to rebuild?

I have been involved directly or indirectly in plenty of rebuilds of historic buildings--everything from my parents' newspaper office after a fire to rebuilding arsoned covered bridges. Every time, there's a lovely conflict between the historic integrity of the structure versus what the insurance company is willing to pay for. Compromises have had to be made--from laying a more conventional floor with wood-look linoleum instead of a hardwood floor, to rebuilding a covered bridge with dense, fireproof tropical woods. The insurers may only allow a rebuild if it's brought up to code--for example, replacing the wiring not just in the damaged section but all over. In the case of the B&O Museum, for example, I can't possibly fathom either insurers or city inspectors letting them rebuild the roof with cast iron, and maybe not even wood.

If a tornado were to hit your National Register station museum, or an out-of-control truck were to hit your caboose, what would YOUR insurance allow?

lner4472@bcpl.net

If TVRM were to have to rebuild any of our facilities or rolling stock, I can't foresee any situation where we would not have to meet present code requirements. Where the stations are concerned, that would not make much of a difference as both are reproductions though they are furnished with antique pieces from regional train stations that have since been razed. They were built in the early 1980s (1980 and 1983) and were built to existing code requirements for public occupancy structures. That said, upgrading them to meet current code would not be that significant.

As for the rolling stock, it would have to be restored to the applicable federal standard. However, as a non-profit museum operation we are allowed certain exemptions from federal code that pertain to safety standards for rail cars and locomotives. Therefore, if our wooden Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway caboose were to be torched by an arsonist (heaven forbid), we would be allowed to rebuild it as it was.

awalker2002@comcast.net