Trainzlane
Member
Okay, so recently i have found posts on rail hobby forums about people but hurt over something the CSRM has done, like the museums "mis"-treatment of the ATSF historical collection. (correct me if i am wrong any facts here) Now as far as i know, the CSRM had to quickly accept the collection to save it from scrapping, resulting in a fast acquisition without much fore planning. This caused most of the most of the collections smaller diesels being unable to be stored for space reasons, and the CSRM getting 2 steam engines (quick note: those two steam engines are currently going under restoration atm) that are too big to fit on the sac shops, show buildings transfer and turn tables, all of this because the CSRM could not asess what items they could handle.
The museum has done some other "sensitive" things too, such as stripping down SP 6402 to turn into a display on diesel power and not fully restoring their former SP branch line. (ignoring the fact that restoring it all would come at a big cost, and that the origination has already tried restoring it further) So....just why? Most of the "bad" things the museum has done have normal explanations. Yes i agree that the museum has been abit stagnate lately...but these things always take money. The CSRM relies mostly on cash from the CSRMF, a non profit organization, the museum only gets basic funding from the state of CA,(besides, the state of CA has other things to worry about with its tax dollars, like making sure our highways are not full of pot holes) so one cannot expect the group to have large swaths of tax money up their sleeves. It always pains me to see people get upset and decry (California state scrap company for example) the museum all because something is not done within a certain time frame, or the organization makes a decision that ticks some people off.
I have talked many times to the volunteers of the CSRM, and they are good people, good people who are who give days of their lives away to preserving CAs and the west coasts rail heritage, people give days of their live away to educate the public, operate the excursion service and keep the paint on the equipment look like new. And so of course it is always upsetting to see people undermine their hard work. Because i believe i cannot cap this conversation off any better, i will use a quote i found while doing research into this subject.
"Before I close, we should all take a look at other museums large and small that are challenged financially and operationally. Rather than complaining about what isn't getting done (in any of our opinions) perhaps we'd break out the check book and send in donations to the museums and historical organizations that need outside charitable (and tax-deductible) funding. We can - at the very least - also give our volunteer time to help these institutions do the "good work" of keeping our railroad heritage alive. Whining and not giving of time and dollars is pointless and unfair. ~Kevin"
(i give full credit to the original maker of this quote.)
The museum has done some other "sensitive" things too, such as stripping down SP 6402 to turn into a display on diesel power and not fully restoring their former SP branch line. (ignoring the fact that restoring it all would come at a big cost, and that the origination has already tried restoring it further) So....just why? Most of the "bad" things the museum has done have normal explanations. Yes i agree that the museum has been abit stagnate lately...but these things always take money. The CSRM relies mostly on cash from the CSRMF, a non profit organization, the museum only gets basic funding from the state of CA,(besides, the state of CA has other things to worry about with its tax dollars, like making sure our highways are not full of pot holes) so one cannot expect the group to have large swaths of tax money up their sleeves. It always pains me to see people get upset and decry (California state scrap company for example) the museum all because something is not done within a certain time frame, or the organization makes a decision that ticks some people off.
I have talked many times to the volunteers of the CSRM, and they are good people, good people who are who give days of their lives away to preserving CAs and the west coasts rail heritage, people give days of their live away to educate the public, operate the excursion service and keep the paint on the equipment look like new. And so of course it is always upsetting to see people undermine their hard work. Because i believe i cannot cap this conversation off any better, i will use a quote i found while doing research into this subject.
"Before I close, we should all take a look at other museums large and small that are challenged financially and operationally. Rather than complaining about what isn't getting done (in any of our opinions) perhaps we'd break out the check book and send in donations to the museums and historical organizations that need outside charitable (and tax-deductible) funding. We can - at the very least - also give our volunteer time to help these institutions do the "good work" of keeping our railroad heritage alive. Whining and not giving of time and dollars is pointless and unfair. ~Kevin"
(i give full credit to the original maker of this quote.)