Jump to content

METRA heratige locomotives?


buslist

Recommended Posts

No simply a locomotive painted in the colors of its predecessors as NS has done, and Metro North's New Haven tribute locomotive(s).

Just hits me as a waste of money. Someone might know what a C&NW locomotive looked like, but I'm sure nobody cares about the hordes of bankrupt legacy railways.

Also, where there are still the private operators, Burlington and C&NW colors have nothing to do with BNSF and UP. There could be a trade dress dispute with them as the successor holders to the trademarks, though.

About the only thing a Metra rider cares about is if the 7:22 arrives at 7:22. That is except for those in the Lake Forest private car club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on what happened to the legal remnants of the predecessors, Metra may not even be able to legally do so if the rights to the railroad's name/logo are owned by someone else today.

Ten or so years ago, UP wanted to go after modelers who painted equipment in predecessor colors (such as CNW). That's the main reason they went with their own heritage locomotive paint schemes (probably the same for NS). So, Metra could paint a locomotive in C&NW colors, but unless they pay a license fee to use the logo, UP's lawyers will be knocking on their door the next day.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone might know what a C&NW locomotive looked like, but I'm sure nobody cares about the hordes of bankrupt legacy railways.

Don't know if that's the case. There have been 6 features on the legacy railroads in On The Bi Level this year alone. Metro North's New Haven (was there ever a more visible and hated by commuters bankrupt railroad) painted locomotives have proved quite popular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on what happened to the legal remnants of the predecessors, Metra may not even be able to legally do so if the rights to the railroad's name/logo are owned by someone else today.

Ten or so years ago, UP wanted to go after modelers who painted equipment in predecessor colors (such as CNW). That's the main reason they went with their own heritage locomotive paint schemes (probably the same for NS). So, Metra could paint a locomotive in C&NW colors, but unless they pay a license fee to use the logo, UP's lawyers will be knocking on their door the next day.[/quote ]

Believe me for all the $ Merta pays UP and BNSF to run their trains, permission would come quickly. The guys on the BNSF would love it! How many cars are currently lettered "Burlington"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know if that's the case. There have been 6 features on the legacy railroads in On The Bi Level this year alone. Metro North's New Haven (was there ever a more visible and hated by commuters bankrupt railroad) painted locomotives have proved quite popular.

Difference between having a history of a railroad (have to fill On the Bi Level with something other than "our board and management deny being corrupt") and paying someone for the rights to use their trade marks and dress, as See also pointed out.

...

Believe me for all the $ Merta pays UP and BNSF to run their trains, permission would come quickly. The guys on the BNSF would love it! How many cars are currently lettered "Burlington"?

The legal department would say "we aren't being paid for that." And, as far as I have seen on BNSF line trains (only occasionally being in that area) most of the letterboards have been scraped clean, although there all small BNSF logos near the doors (near the fleet numbers and accessibility symbols and the like.) Undoubtedly, there is some sort of "trademarks used under license" agreement, such as what you see on a Wendy's advertisement.*

__________

*Which is usually in advertisements because the company has an offshore Intellectual Property subsidiary for tax purposes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The BNSF cars (including those with the old-fashioned style BURLINGTON and BNSF RAILWAY titles) are actually owned by BNSF. I actually know one of the people (a BNSF employee) who had the old-style lettering put on the cars.

I guess one has to look at the bottom to see if a car has a WSMTD tag. The C&NW unloaded its fleet on the RTA in the 1970s (essentially said that it was cheaper for the RTA to buy it than to pay C&NW capital cost of contracting), but I don't know if Burlington did anything similar. Probably not, and the WSMTD is probably only the 7100s, but I haven't checked that closely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 700 series cars have the old script BURLINGTON over the doors while the 7300s have the BNSF logo on the sides of the doors.

It would be 7100s, unless there was a swap with the Milw and RI divisions, which had the 7200s and 7300s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest ctafan630

I guess one has to look at the bottom to see if a car has a WSMTD tag. The C&NW unloaded its fleet on the RTA in the 1970s (essentially said that it was cheaper for the RTA to buy it than to pay C&NW capital cost of contracting), but I don't know if Burlington did anything similar. Probably not, and the WSMTD is probably only the 7100s, but I haven't checked that closely.

The 700/800 series are owned by the WSMTD with BN as the lessee. The same goes for the 7100 series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think of this: In the 1940s, when Lionel wanted to introduce a new diesel in their product line, the decided on the F3. To help pay for the tooling and manufacture, Lionel contacted the New York Central, Santa Fe, and GM. Each chipped in a quarter of the development/tooling cost, in exchange for their logos on the model.

Yes, the NY Central, Santa Fe, and GM all paid to have their paint job and or logos on a model. They all saw it as advertising. I guess this could also be further proof the world really is backwards nowadays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

Yes, the NY Central, Santa Fe, and GM all paid to have their paint job and or logos on a model. They all saw it as advertising. I guess this could also be further proof the world really is backwards nowadays.

The current railroads have no reason to advertise to passengers, since they don't run the service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...