Last night’s CBS evening news (December 18, 2003) had a piece about UP collecting royalties from the model train industry. You can currently watch the video on their site, but I’m not sure how long it will be there.
I found it funny in a sad way that the Suit from Uncle Pete had the gaul to say “we’re not trying to be Scrooges here” What a load! I have one ( 1 ) UP boxcar on my large scale line and I have an overwhelming urge to repaint the logo to read
I guess it’s not long before the rest follow suit? I hope not!!!
I hope only UP is the only railroad with it’s head up it’s own butt!
I guess this means if I want to use my UP livery locomotives & rolling stock I have to close all the blinds & crank the music up so that Uncle Pete doesn’t hear me use a locomotive with UP painted on the side so they can’t charge me by the hour for using one of their locomotives
I don’t think they send new train sets to their stockholders for christmas…NOT good Marketing idea on their part…anyone want to make models of my trucks and give me free advertizing…please let me know!..lol…merry christmas all Tom
HOW RUDE THEY ARE.
I HAVE UP EQUIPMENT AND PROBABLY NOT FOR MUCH
LONGER. I am considering repainting ALL UP cars I have.
Hey, what’s next, “UP sues the individual modeller for color
theft. Film at 11 !!!”
These practices are stupid and bad for their public image.
They are attacking the group of citizens and companies.
UP should be happy to get the recognition they do. Us modellers
are not going to harm the operation of this class 1 road.
GIVE ME A BREAK. I THINK I’LL REPAINT THOSE CARS RIGHT NOW !!!
My layout no longer will run UP cars. I will be sticking to just my Canadian Pacific cars and my UP rolling stock will be receiving CP paint jobs soon after Christmas. What next?
I saw the piece on CBS on Friday night and my thought was to fire off some emails to the Chairman/CEO,the President/COO, and the CFO. I was able to get their names but not their email address. Any ideas? Maybe if they got some input as to how petty they are, they might change their mind.
There are things that can be done. (1) E-mail the UP. John Bromley is in Public Relations. I did. (2) Notify manufacturers that you will not purchase equipment that has a railroad surcharge attached. Suggest that they offer “near-decorated” schemes, sans decaling or identifying markings under license, which can be purchased separately and for far less than the cost of a car. (3) Don’t threaten not to run UP cars and locos. Silence is golden and the railroad won’t care. Rather, threaten to not patronize businesses which ship via UP or associate with their industries, or not ride trains on their tracks, or ship via UP yourself, and recommend that all your friends and business associates do the same. (4) Use “reverse advertizing.” We who run UP equipment are, in fact, promoting and advertizing for the Union Pacific RR (as I pointed out the JB. Maybe the railroad should pay us!). Weather your UP stuff before other stuff – make it look really dirty and ugly. Make rolling stock and trackside structures with UP identification look in need of repair. If you are running layouts and modules at train shows, make sure that all other RR equipment looks great and the UP stuff looks absolutely and noticeably terrible, and if someone asks why, tell them you’re reflecting the attitude of the UP. That will have a much farther-reaching effect than just removing the equipment from the layout. Put that dirty UP unit coal train off the tracks in the hole and have a nice, clean, bright BNSF (trackage rights, right?) roaring past, delivering the goods. What goes around, comes around.
I think the model manufactures should charge the U.P. for all the years of free advertizing that they have been getting!!! I will no longer run U.P. on my layout nor rio grande or southern pacific!! The U.P. must be hard up for money, they should keep their
engines out of the dirt and on the track instead harassing modelers!!!
" saw the piece on CBS on Friday night and my thought was to fire off some emails to the Chairman/CEO,the President/COO, and the CFO. I was able to get their names but not their email address. Any ideas? Maybe if they got some input as to how petty they are, they might change their mind."
These folks could care less. Do high priced athletes care about charging kids $10 each for autographs? Do the Health Insurance companies really ‘care’ about you? It’s all about the money. As far as us advertising for them. No way. Very few on this site, if any, have had enough folks (not the same folks day after day) view their layout(s) to be in anyway considered as advertising. No one on this site has told people to “ship BNSF, UP or whatever” because I/we run models of their trains. Besides, you can’t emand payment for advertising, if you were authorized to advertise for a company in the first place. It’s like placing a company name on the side of a race car. You’ll get no money for it unless that company has signed a contract (sponsorship deal) with you. In fact, they can have you remove their name from the side of the car. In a case such as in racing, having the name on the side of the car, makes you a representative of the company. Not that anyone in their ‘right mind’ would ever beleive that because you have a UP or CSX or BNSF locomotive and rolling stock model train, that your represent the company. Though you never know. After all in this crazy time in which we live, an old lady was able to sue a fast food service (McDonalds, I believe) because she ordered and received a cup of hot coffee though the drive through. Then SHE spilled it on HERSELF and got burned, so she sued, and won, for the injuries she sustained! What did she think she was getting…a “COLD hot cup of coffee”?
UP and the other railroads have the right to do this. So far, only the GREEDY upper management folks at UP have made efforts to do such. I like the one guy’s comment, " It’s like Bill Gates suing schools kids for their
NSDRA1…thank you for that long winded comment!!! Ok that was me trying to be funny…i really liked what you had to say…you about summed the whole thing up. Me personally i dont own a single UP item. And i model a Freelance RR…so everything i buy just about is Undec…so not a soul can say i owe them crap. As for your opinion on railroads dying? Well not a single person here would want to admit your right…but you are. They are getting to big and the ones who are running them dont know what they are doing. I dont think that RRs will dissapear totally…but the big ones will eventually be chopped up and sold off and there will be a lot more regionals and smaller shortlines. Thats about the only plus side i can see tot he big RRs getting bigger…their lack of interest in running the little out of the way shortlines. Which if you have the money to start a business venture like that…seems like a good idea.
As far as st-UP-id is concerned…they are trying to be something they are not. If you look at UPs history…they liked to be innovators…they tested all the new crap (turbines and whatnot). They always had to be the Biggest and the Best. and now they are the biggest…far from the best. I think it makes them Jelous that their mahor competition in being First and New and The Innovator is the Canadian National. Remember the CN did mostly everything First. And they did a lot more then that. They basically invented the Wide Cab we have now. The had the first on train Phone. They built the Tallest Building on Earth (the CN tower). They were the first railroad in North America and still the only one to be a Transcontinental System East-West and are now the only one on earth or be East-West and North-South. I guess im trying to say that UP is acting like a child that isnt getting its own way. So what is it doing now…its being a spoiled brat…OH YOU WANNA PLAY WITH MY TOYS…WELL THEN YOUR GONNA PAY. Thats F***ing stUPid. Railroads are just like every other transpo
Interesting to note – the UP that wants to charge model railroaders for the use of their logo(s) is the same one that leases a station to Amtrak for $1 per year. Go figure. Give away property and draw blood from the fans.
To NSDRA1 and JohnnyDash9 and others, thanks for all the good info. All of what you said is most likely TRUE, however I believe that if model railroaders all sent emails to the top guys maybe they would see how SMALL a return they are going to get. We are not talking millions here as there are not that many modelers in the country and not all modelers have anything to do with UP. I myself will not have to worry about this no matter which way it turns out as I only collect and display models of the New Haven RR and I have bought all the equipment that I want. I also like to watch the real ones and have a one foot to one foot scale BNSF mainline running near the house so I can have perfect models of all types and railroads and not have to pay anything to see this “layout” run. I am sorry that I got some so stired up as to write novels about the principals of BIG business today. All I was looking for was several good addresses to sent my emails to so I could express my opinion to them which I believe is what all model railroader should do. I was always aware that it would most likely not change their mind. It never hurts to try.
Here is a letter I sent to UP via their web feedback page:
To Whom it May Concern;
I enjoy model railroading and was quite surprised to find out that Union Pacific was requiring licensing fees from model railroad manufactures for use of logos and trade mark materials.
Personally, I feel this direction that UP has taken seems to be a waste of time. Model railroad manufacturers have been producing UP rolling stock for decades without any concern regarding licensing agreements. Additionally, I believe that you (UP) are spending dollars to chase after pennies. I don’t think UP stock holders would appreciate a revenue stream which requires more money to manage than it produces.
Look at it this way, you are promoting good will in the community by not charging for licensing but you are coming across as a greedy corporate entity by charging licensing fees.
Al Jones…dont worry you didnt get me all stirred up LOL. I was very calm in writing that. Anyhow i wont speak for NSDRA1…but if i interperate him right, and along with my own views…i think we are both trying to say. No matter how much you write…your not gonna get anything done. Its like writing the president…do you actually think he reads all the email he gets? No. And im sure that the President and CEO and all the other Top Morons and UP dont read all their own email either. Hey, i could be totally wrong in that…but i still dont think your gonna get anywhere. About all i can say is…the day UP falls flat on their 1000 SD70M’s *** will be the day a lot of people Cheer and Laugh.
Johnny Dash9
“To NSDRA1 and JohnnyDash9 and others, thanks for all the good info. All of what you said is most likely TRUE, however I believe that if model railroaders all sent emails to the top guys maybe they would see how SMALL a return they are going to get. We are not talking millions here as there are not that many modelers in the country and not all modelers have anything to do with UP.”
Please read the beginning of my email again. It says that I AGREE with you. However this a free country and I do believe that its OK to express your opinion to those who don’t agree with you. I expressed my opinion that all model railroader should email and tell them they are wrong. Do I think they will change their mind? Maybe,maybe not. At least they will know how I feel. I still don’t have an answer to the question. I asked in the beginning Does anybody have these big wheels email address so I can sent them my opinions? I will keep looking and if I find it I will sent them an email regardless of the outcome. Have a great holiday to all