UP plays the Scrooge on CBS Evening News

[Bergie]

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.

To find the video...

Go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml#eveningnews

Scroll down to the light blue I-VIDEO ON DEMAND box for CBS Evening News

Select "Model Train Money Battle" (If the story isn't listed in the blue box any longer, do a search for Model Train Money Battle)

Select your video player choice and the video will load.

[edblysard]

Note how hard the UP guy was trying not to say "we make money off of this"?
Sad, but it will make those of us with UP models keep them.
After all, they just made them into collector items.
Ed

[Anonymous]

How sad this all is. I don't believe that UP now has the good name they used to have. First the CNW merger didn't go well. Second the meltdown in Texas during the SP merger. And now they want money from the model train industry. Just shows a greedy railroad become more greedy. The steam excursion is the one and only bright spot that UP can still boast of. But can the steam program overcome ALL the other problems and continue the good will ? We will have to wait and see.

My question, is it just the UP models that are being increased in price or all models because of this? If people are given a choice to buy a KCS unit and a UP unit but the UP unit costs $5 more, which will they buy? The cheaper one of course, well in most cases anyway. Seems to me that UP is shooting itself in the foot. They will be loosing alot of free advertising with lost sales of model engines. Well, big business getting bigger. What can you say?

[JoeKoh]

Well if Up wants to play scrooge just remember when Coke changed its formula?Bad move.It will hurt them more than help them.
stay safe
Joe

[edblysard]

Jim,
Trust me, shooting themselves in the foot is something railroads are very good at!
Ed

[Soo2610]

Did not see the news article. Don't have any UP engines on the layout and guess we never will now. Will stick to Santa Fe, CN&W and Soo.

[dehusman]

CNW is a "UP" name (as is MKT, SP, SSW, MP, TP, etc).

Dave H

[ironhorseman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JoeKoh

Well if Up wants to play scrooge just remember when Coke changed its formula?Bad move.It will hurt them more than help them.
stay safe
Joe

Oh, but on the contrary. Coke changed the formula, everyone hated it, and then Coke said [#oops] and supposedly reinvented their drink and called it Classic Coke (you know? the kind of Coke everyone knew and enjoyed before?) That was the biggest marketing ploy of all time that, if it hasn't been topped, certainly was unique. Bet'cha didn't see that one coming? [:-^]

(hehehe [;)])

[JoeKoh]

Ironhorseman
there are people i know who no longer drink coke STILL to this day.Uncle Pete gave himself a black eye.He will need a herd of cows to help recover.
stay safe
joe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman

CNW is a "UP" name (as is MKT, SP, SSW, MP, TP, etc).

Dave H

Dave [:)]

Yes you are correct. UP wants $ $ $ from all the roads it has merged. So if you buy an SP model it will cost more now. [:(]

[clinchfieldfan]

Glad I don't model the UP. This gives me a reason not to!

[Anonymous]

I'm strongly opposed to this! Especially ridiculous is that they want to do this with fallen flags that are part of UP. Why don't they just admit that they're doing this just for the money? It's something how times have changed. Back in the postwar years, many railroads paid model train manufacturers to produce trains in their paint scheme! The reason the first Lionel F3's of 1949 were in Santa Fe and NYC is because both roads paid Lionel big bucks to make them in their colours first!

[kenneo]

Best thing for the model makers to do is not paint anything the UP can get money for. No income, they go away.

This wasn't a suprise. The court battles were last year and UP won.

[JoeKoh]

tomtrain
dont let union pacifics corporate greed dishearten you.there are other railroads.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

[8D]OK now If The UP people are watching there going to charge us $$$$
for saying UP Or Any Subs Every time you say UP Itll cost you A lot
So from now on we say (the railroad formaly known as) UP[:p]

[Anonymous]

First off I missed the video. [}:)] Second, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place cuz about 90% of my motive power is either Uncle Pete or SP. [}:)][B)] And when your already as deep in the hobby as I am, ( 100+ locos) its a little late to change.[8][:(][B)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by drailed1999

First off I missed the video. [}:)] Second, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place cuz about 90% of my motive power is either Uncle Pete or SP. [}:)][B)] And when your already as deep in the hobby as I am, ( 100+ locos) its a little late to change.[8][:(][B)]

Marty [:)]

Anytime you want to give rid of a model engine just throw it my way. [:D] [}:)] [;)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

QUOTE: Originally posted by drailed1999

First off I missed the video. [}:)] Second, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place cuz about 90% of my motive power is either Uncle Pete or SP. [}:)][B)] And when your already as deep in the hobby as I am, ( 100+ locos) its a little late to change.[8][:(][B)]

Marty [:)]

Anytime you want to give rid of a model engine just throw it my way. [:D] [}:)] [;)]

[:D] I might think about it. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL[:D]

[espeefoamer]

I am a fan,and have several models of,the SP.My road was caught in the tenticles of,[:(] and swollowed up by[:(!],the TRUE octopus the up.[}:)][B)]

[Anonymous]

On another thread--about railroad nicknames, one of the guys reminded me about a saying Union Pacific employees have about their company: "You can't spell 'stupid' without UP."

--John

[Anonymous]

I'm kind of mixed on this one. This was originally announced about 6 months ago. The UP spun it at that time as "We want to control how and where our name / image is used." Ok, I can understand and respect that. I'd want the same for the company where I work.
The second part would be that you can argue that a lot of vendors make a lot of money with images and models of UP trains. (i.e. others are making money off of what UP does as a business.) There's a part of me that thinks that its reasonable for the UP to expect a licensing fee (albeit, it ought to be a reasonable fee - minimal.)
Think of it this way, did you ever notice those little tags on the jersey, t-shirt, hat, mug, cushion, etc, etc, etc, etc, from your favorite football, baseball, hockey, basketball, or racing team. Notice how almost all of it says "Officially licensed product?" That is just your favorite team protecting and profiting from, the same rights that UP is protecting. I guess UP woke up and realized that they have a group of fans, just like every sports team has known for years. Does anyone cry about their beloved team profiting from that aspect?
Finally -- as quoted from above "You can't spell stupid w/o UP." VERY - VERY FUNNY!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Right after the SP-UP merger the scuttle but around the Roseville yard was that the name of the new RR would be the Pacific Union & Southern, the PUS road. [bow]

[tree68]

With the growth of computers and do-it-yourself decals, the die-hard modeller will have no problem turning out large fleets of UP "family" rolling stock. There are tons of websites with all of the graphics necessary (or there certainly will be). Just because they have to use reefer yellow and battleship gray instead of Armour yellow, etc won't change things. We already scratchbuild and paint things that the model manufacturers don't make. This just adds one more category.

It will be interesting to see what happens when someone's layout is featured in a model railroad publication and it's pointed out that they painted and lettered all of the UP rolling stock themselves. Will UP come looking for the license fee?

It should come as no surprise that the owner of a trademark would want to have some control over the use of it's trademark. I'm not happy about the possibility of everything costing a little more at the hobby shop, but we pay for it everywhere else. Stop by the Hallmark Christmas ornament display and see how many of the recognizable trademark items have a "used by permission" disclaimer. Even Lionel...

[Soo2610]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman

CNW is a "UP" name (as is MKT, SP, SSW, MP, TP, etc).

Dave H

[^]I am well aware that C&NW is now a UP name but I have more than enough engines on the layout and don't need to buy any more.
What I do need is more time to run the layout. Most of the kids have moved out and it takes three people to effectively run things. Needless to say, the track is getting quite dirty.

[Chris30]

So what happens if you go to your hobby store and buy a CNW, SP, MoPac, etc. model engine that was never on the UP roster??

What's next? Is the UP going to want some kind of a fee if you model a specific yard, structure, etc. Say you have an HO model of Houston & decide to create your own Houston meltdown, will Uncle Pete being knocking on your door & handing you the bill? They might might just add in a special "embarassment fee".

The UP really is a good railroad, but they like to do silly things now & then.

Chris

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironhorseman

QUOTE: Originally posted by JoeKoh

Well if Up wants to play scrooge just remember when Coke changed its formula?Bad move.It will hurt them more than help them.
stay safe
Joe

Oh, but on the contrary. Coke changed the formula, everyone hated it, and then Coke said [#oops] and supposedly reinvented their drink and called it Classic Coke (you know? the kind of Coke everyone knew and enjoyed before?) That was the biggest marketing ploy of all time that, if it hasn't been topped, certainly was unique. Bet'cha didn't see that one coming? [:-^]

(hehehe [;)])

And even then it was all a ploy, to get folks pallate to forget the original formula with 100% cane sugar, so it could be replaced with the cheaper "High fructose corn syrup" with minimal objection.

"New coke" was made to taste like pepsi expressely to make people go Yeccch! during the transition phase, and hopefully make the taste trip back to the "almost" original Coke a desired one. I can taste the corn in the new product and feel mega betrayed, ultimately switching to Dr Pepper after 40 years as a devoute coke drinker

[Anonymous]

well if you can't make money hauling freight you have to get it some other way. The
model manufacturers should charge these railroads for world wide advertising as here
in oz we see all US railroads well represented in our model stores increasing our
awareness of these companies and the services they provide,they do have a listing in the phone book. It would seem that someone at the company in question should be choked on his marketing degree and a salesman employed in UP's best interest.

[millerdc]

This is a legal issue for UP, not a financial issue. If UP ever needs to challenge the name of some enity that might be trying to benefit finacially from piggybacking on the UP name, it must be able to show a court it has made a good faith effort to protect ownersip of the name. Somewhat similiar to a landowner needing to challenge a squatter on his property or risk loosing it from a squatters right action.

[Willy2]

I have a question. Since UP is charging people who put their logo on model trains, will they charge software companies such as 3D Train Stuff for use of their logo in software too?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironhorseman

QUOTE: Originally posted by JoeKoh

Well if Up wants to play scrooge just remember when Coke changed its formula?Bad move.It will hurt them more than help them.
stay safe
Joe

Oh, but on the contrary. Coke changed the formula, everyone hated it, and then Coke said [#oops] and supposedly reinvented their drink and called it Classic Coke (you know? the kind of Coke everyone knew and enjoyed before?) That was the biggest marketing ploy of all time that, if it hasn't been topped, certainly was unique. Bet'cha didn't see that one coming? [:-^]

(hehehe [;)])

And even then it was all a ploy, to get folks pallate to forget the original formula with 100% cane sugar, so it could be replaced with the cheaper "High fructose corn syrup" with minimal objection.

"New coke" was made to taste like pepsi expressely to make people go Yeccch! during the transition phase, and hopefully make the taste trip back to the "almost" original Coke a desired one. I can taste the corn in the new product and feel mega betrayed, ultimately switching to Dr Pepper after 40 years as a devoute coke drinker

You know what's really funny.... Dr. Pepper doesn't taste like it should... They switched to processed sugar from Cane Sugar years ago. If you want a thrill, try the original! (YOU CAN STILL GET THE ORIGINAL FROM DUBLIN, TX!)

http://www.drsoda2.com/prod.itml/icOid/4932