Re: Attention Rail Freight operators

[petan@NOSPAMion.com.au (PETer and susAN)]

On Fri, 5 Nov 1999 16:41:02 +1000, "PETer and susAN Cokley" <petan@NOSPAMion.com.au> wrote:

>I am hoping to develop a list of rail freight operators who have school
>project material on their web site.
>
>If you work for a Freight Company and want your company's name used in
>school projects across the country, this is your chance to achieve that sort
>of advertising exposure for free!!



What could start some people thinking is to look at the *purpose* of each wagon type and give a
possible child centered story such as; This boxcar could have carried the newspaper you read this
morning. Newsprint paper rolls are transported from the factory to the destination town where the
load is transferred to trucks for the final trip to the newspaper printery.

An example of some possible examples of sites suitable for school projects could include something
like;

[A]  Start with a sketch of a box car and add the following text;  
This type of wagon is called a refrigerated boxcar. It has its own refrigerating motor to keep its
contents cold. A refrigerated boxcar can carry fresh fruit and vegetables from the farms to the
markets in the cities. It can also carry processed dairy products such as milk and cheese. The side
door slides open. 

Normal non-refrigerated boxcars can carry farm produce that has been to a factory. These include
tinned fruit and grains in breakfast cereal boxes.  Another product that could have travelled in
this wagon is the soft drink you will enjoy at lunchtime.

[B]  Another example could start with a picture of a grain hopper and add text such as;
Grain wagons are called grain hoppers. Grain hoppers have roof hatches that are like doors. These
roof hatches can be opened so grain can be poured in from the grain silo. When the grain hopper
arrives at the Kellogg's factory the wagon is parked over a special pit in the cement floor and the
bottom doors on the wagon are opened so the grain can pour out.

[C]  Perhaps a few pictures tracing the story of a container from the farm or raw material site to
the processing factory than to the market than to the consumer. If the pictures [plus explanation in
"kid friendly" text] are available; show the crop being grown / harvested / packed into cartons /
loaded into the shipping container / container onto the truck / truck to rail yard / crane transfer
to rail wagon / rail trip to cannery or freezing works town /container transferred to truck for trip
to cannery / unloading at cannery / cannery operation / loading of processed product into another
container  / truck to rail yard / transfer to rail wagon / rail trip to customer market / transfer
of container to road for journey to Woolworths or K-Mart. Sometimes these educational stories are
called; "A day in the life of a container" or "The day in the life of a tomato".

The above container story might better suit the web site of a transport company that offers "Total
Transport Services" or " Intergrated Transport Services" or "Seamless Transport services" or "Door
to Door" transport or what ever the latest catchcry is.

The cargo is the major part of the transport lesson; the train is just the transporting device. So
train pictures just won't do; but if you don't start with good train pictures you also fail. Poor
train pictures don't grab the pupil's attention in the first place and than all the great text is
wasted as nobody reads it.

An example of what is __NOT a kid friendly train web page__ is one that is full of great train
related pictures that entertain rail fans such as us and has text such as ; "Comeng Alco CO-CO 8025
drifts down the grade towards Picton with the UP 4MS3 Toll express"  Rail fans can decode it but 10
year olds would just roll their eyes and give up. A similar non kid friendly caption is; "8125 was
light attached to train 3124's GM Bulldog scheduled motive power for the trip to Cooks River."  Even
the expresion "motive Power" needs to be avoided; it is well understood by us but not really by
people outside the rail world.   [I just made up the above text examples.]

All spelling and grammar would need to be perfect although the rare typo might be tolerated. If I
ever let a typo slip through in my worksheets, some parent or kid finds it and I hear about it for
ever! Same happens if I leave out a punctuation mark such as a full stop or don't use a capital
letter where it should be used. It is my job to spot my pupils' spelling / grammar errors, not make
any of the errors myself!  Besides, correct typing increases the professional standard. 

 I am hoping some freight operator's public relations staff spots this thread and takes over.  

So far National Rail's site is winning; if only some one would add some kid friendly text to those
very useful pictures of the containers as well as the container handling devices such as the trucks
and cranes. The site also is great as it shows the human side; it shows the operators.

Thanks for your interest and advice.

Cheers
Peter
 
 
Peter & Susan Cokley
petan @ ion.com.au
http://homepages.msn.com/PicnicPl/petan-oz