Interesting article on how another collecting community is approaching questions of preserve vs. restore.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/automobiles/collectibles/preserving-classics-wrinkles-and-all.html?hpw

This is a good article. Somewhere, I have a book on the Ford Model T I purchased at the Henry Ford a number of years ago. The best part of the book is that the author was able to examine several "barn find" Ford Model Ts in largely original shape. From that, we learned that the Ford "flow on" paint method was pretty messy, and the overall fit and finish of many Model Ts was rough by modern standards. Another notable example is that the wood used in the seat bottoms was made from recycled packing crates. Interesting, and illustrative.

Has any rail museum decided to keep one or more pieces of equipment permanently on display as an unretored "before" example? We at PTM have talked about it, but a decision is unlikely to be made for many years. We have enough equipment that we definitely want to restore to keep people busy for a long time.

Art - I always thought your Johnstown car at PTM serves as a great example of preserving original fabric. Prior to the fire we were going to display work car DCTS 0509 as-is in the new building and had no plans for a cosmetic restoration.

Wesley

WRM has two identical Hall-Scott interurbans from the Sacramento Northern (SN 1019, an un-restored car which is pretty rough, and sister car 1020, restored as OA&E 1020). We eventually want to restore 1019, but at present it does present a good "before" example to compare with its restored sister.

Montpelier Idaho, a railroad town, and my great-grandpa was well-enough off nearly 100 years ago to buy a new car for the family each year. He didn't trade in the old one but put it out in the barn...mom remembers playing with cousins out in the barn among the "dozen or so" old cars when she was 6 or 7 years old...so that would be the early thirties. No one can remember when the barn was torn down but guess that the cars went to the "war effort".

The thing about automobile "barn finds" is that they stay "barned" and we all know what's happening to the majority of our diminishing "discoveries"...they remain by and large "mis-covered"...subjected to dwindling resources, the elements, vandals, and scrap thieves.

sc 'doc' lewis

the thing about "original fabric" is how how you dealt with technologies that existed at the time.

If you restore an old car using the old way of doing it you will illustrate what that was all about and why changes in doing things happenned.

restoring a model T, go ask a pallete company for some scrap material.

how they did it... 8-D

Upon my most recent visit to the California State Railroad Museum I was pleased to see Southern Pacific SD45T-2R 6819 on display in its as-retired condition. The docent I spoke with said there was some controversy regarding its appearance and hinted there were those who would "restore" it to an earlier look, such as when it emerged from SP's rebuilding program in the 1980s.

I think it looks great as-is with its genuine stains and grime. It looks like a reasonably well-cared for machine, and most of all, it is completely authentic. There is even some random sticker slapped on the outside of the cab by a railroad employee. Of course the locomotive's paint was in fairly decent shape when delivered to the museum (except for some areas on the cab and roof where it has fallen off), so this option is not open for many pieces.

The setting is a big part of this display's success. The clean, well-lit museum building conveys legitimacy to the artifact. In the history museum roundhouse, next to an SP Pacific, it is presented as something significant and valuable. If it were sitting outside, or in a crowded storage barn amongst other pieces in poor condition, it would look like junk in most visitor's eyes.

Given the ability of the museum setting to "elevate" what's on display, I'd like to see some of our more striking basket cases in this setting. A rare and unrestored streetcar with shingles and wallpaper from its use as a home makes for a compelling object in itself, and seeing it in a museum next to restored equipment would make for a great contrast.

Rudy,

At NCTM we are doing as you suggest with display of CTCo 522.


Our visitors are fascinated with car and always surprised to learn that it is operable.

Wesley

Midland Railway Museum in England has an 1872-vintage Pullman sleeper on display in their hall, which they salvaged after years of outdoor use as a building.
The signage attached to it says that to "restore" it would basically be a recreation, so they're leaving the remaining fabric as is.
A good way to go, in this instance.
Cheers, Bob