Well it's due to the insurance cost and our litigious society. In the olden days when I was around 7 we visited the Steamtown Museum when it was up in Bellows Falls, VT. This was during their better days, almost 2 decades and before the display was moved to Scranton. During that visit, there were no signs about not climbing on equipment, and climbed on every locomotive including what I think was Big Boy on display there, or at least one of the cousins.
Move on to 2013 with a visit to Strasburg, PA, and the signs were all around the equipment. The reason I believe is simply the museum does not want to be responsible for some brat that falls off and gets hurt. Without the signs, some parent would file a law suit against the museum and we'd lose out as they claimed mega-buckos for their hurt brat. With the signs in place, the parents are now told to keep brats off the equipment, as well as telling stupid idiots not to do that either. Should some idiot or brat now climb up and fall off, well it's tough! You didn't see the signs, which say do not climb on the equipment, sorry no buckos for you! In the corporate world it's called C Y A.
