Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to each of the witnesses for coming today. I appreciate your insight and your testimony today.
When you think of the things a person can collect in life, trains may not be the obvious answer for many people. When I think of it, if I had brought home a train, my wife would have looked at me strangely and said, “Well, what are you going to do with this?” I certainly see where the passion for it can come from.
I think of myself as a bit of a handyman. Maybe someday I'll have to come and volunteer and spend some time there stripping paint or something, but it certainly looks like a wonderful process.
I come from a different type of construction background, but I understand the issue that once you've built something, you have to be able to maintain it, and if you do it right, maybe there's a chance that maintenance will last or it won't have to be ongoing in the same way. I'm just wondering, in terms of the financial maintenance.... Obviously, these older structures need to be maintained, and there's an ongoing cost once they've been restored. I'm wondering if your museum has ever looked at a tie-in endowment fund to these types of structures. I know there are many museums that have been looking into it, but of course the cost seems inhibitive sometimes. I'm wondering if you can tell me about your experiences looking into endowment funds, or the possibility of those, to help with the preservation and the long-term maintenance of these units.