Re: [VIC] headboards, nameplates and non authentic liveries. (was: [VIC] Steamrail headboard)

[royboy@DELETE_THIS.bit.net.au (Roy Wilke)]

On Mon, 29 Nov 1999 02:28:21 +1100, James Brook
<ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>None of this post applies to WCR as they are not a "preservation" group. They
>are operating a modern commercial steam service and as far as I'm concerned
>they can do what they like with R711 (and R766 when its converted). Also many
>of the societies I mention do an outstanding job rebuilding and maintaining
>steam and diesel locomotives with very limited resources. And without their
>efforts we wouldn't have the variety and number of steam and historic diesel
>locomotives in service today. In the overall scheme of things these are only
>minor criticisms that if acted upon would enhance and increase the historical
>significance of existing historic locomotives and rolling stock.
>
>Roy Wilke wrote:
>
>> And why don't Steamrail hang a little advertising sign on the side of
>> the kiosk car and at the end of the train? Well, why are advertising
>> signs in prominent places beside main roads and not hidden away down
>> side lanes? Why is it that advertising space at the front of a
>> newspaper and on an odd-numbered page costs more than a two-line
>> classified on page 82? Why does a 30" advertisement on Channel Nine at
>> 8:30pm on a weeknight cost about 1,000 times more than a half-hour
>> infotainment programme at 3am on Monday morning on Channel 10?
>> Correct me if I'm wrong, but probably because more people will see it
>> when it's in a place where more people will look - which is why
>> Steamrail etc. put a headboard on the front of a locomotive.
>
(rant snipped)

I think it still comes down to the simple fact that whoever is the
operator of the service or whoever is paying for the charter can put
whatever headboard they want to on the locomotive. Remember, most
people aren't train enthusiasts, and such people also catch steam
train tours and take photos of the rare sight of a steam train passing
by. And if they don't have a camera with them, they'll be sure to pay
more attention to a steam train passing them at a level crossing or a
station than they will a diesel or an electric train.

And those are the people who will notice the headboard, and (I take it
that the organisers hope) will remember the name and contact the
organiser for information about future tours.

The gunzel will already know, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to
introduce new people to your hobby in a friendly and welcoming way?

As for naming locomotives and painting equipment in "non-authentic"
colours according to the heritage values - at what point does a
locomotive's or a carriage's heritage finish? If it still exists, it's
heritage continues. Okay. VR might not operate a particular locomotive
or piece of rolling stock any more. Then the new owner has every right
to paint it in whatever colour they wish (take a look at WCR, and all
the bizarre inheritors of CR/ANR) - and that applies to all owners, no
matter whether they're a preservation line or whatever.

There was mention of a preserved loco being named after a
preservation-group member as a memorial, and a whinge that VR never
named that loco after that preservation-group member.

But the loco isn't a VR loco anymore - and for all I know, that
preservation group member might just have been the individual who
saved that particular locomotive from the tender mercies of Simsmetal.
If a preservation group want to name - say - X308a after Freddo Frog,
then they can do so. They are not detracting from the heritage value
of X308a, they are adding another chapter to that locomotive's
heritage.

Then again, maybe this is just a Melbourne sort of thing (I'm from
Queensland) :)

Whatever - I really have more important things to worry about than
what colour a particular locomotive is painted.