Railroaders, Railfans and The Public

[wallyworld]

While I concur with the premise of Mark Hemphill's editorial, I think the gulf between railroaders and railfans is the public. The evidence is well known to both railfans and railroaders. The vast majority of either intentionally fictional or uninformed images in the media that provide an image of railroading to the public are either inaccurate, outdated or misinformed. Wasn't it Hemmingway who accurately stated that a man's true mistriss is nostalgia.? Railfans and railroaders are fortunately infected with a sense of history that most likely dates back 175 years as well. For me the key phrase in the editorial is; " what truly makes a railroad wonderful is what it does not what it is." That memorable phrase should be indelibly etched into a public relationship with the general public which should be tangible. Intangibles like good will, recognition of worth and value are the key components to any private enterprise. Since the post WW2 era when interstate travel shrank the bottom line, the railroads have correspondently began a process of introverted behavior toward the public which devalued their relationship to the point where it is today. which is nonexistant. Whether we are railfans or railroaders, our object of effection is in reality a business. Why this has'nt been capitalised with the public is one of the several chief features of in the failure of present day management to see the forest before the trees. 19th century momentum is subject to entropy. When a railroad shrinks trackage and market, who in the general public cares, let alone have any awareness that they have lost an asset? The answer to that is the public views what both groups treasure as irrelevant to their interests. Let's bring the public in on this shared secret.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

Wally:
I think Don Phillips made the same point you and Mark Hemphill have made. Today it seems as if the railroads are rarely involved in public relations since (Amtrak aside)they are no longer in the passenger business, so they don't feel they have to get their message out to the public. That might be changing; I have seen a few TV ads for
intermodal freight and its ability to remove trucks from our highways.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

I overlooked the Union Pacific's steam specials using either 844 or 3985. The latest excursion was 3985's trip to the Super Bowl in late January. These are public relations moves which puts the Union Pacific's name in front of the public.

[Anonymous]

The sad truth of the matter is that most people still think that railroads are incredibly unprofitable. You should see the look on some of these people's faces when I tell them that railroading is a multi-billion dollar industry with railroads making millions in profits. It is an amazing mix of incredulity and amazement.

I agree that since most railroads are no longer in the passenger business they have forsaken public relations. And for ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction, in this case that the public has forsaken railroads.

I view this as partially responsible for a lot of things, like why so many idiots try to race trains to crossings (they no longer have the respect for railroads which they do for things more directly involved in their lives, such as airlines), and why so many people want to be rid of horns (they no longer have the positive experiences with railroads which teach them that horns are not annoyances but necessary and justified warning for the public). But I digress.

The way to change this trend is for railroads to launch a large public relations campaign, reminding people of many truths they may have forgotten, such as the fact that nearly every manufactured item they see in front of them traveled by train at one point or another. Throwing in some pictures of steam locomotives would be helpful, but only if the locomotives were not putting out smoke [:)].

See you around the forums,
Daniel

[wallyworld]

I agree. For every one experience a driver has by being delayed by crossing gates which are there for our safety which in turn, the railroads provide, there are ten instances one has on a publicly financed interstate where you are tailgated, passed, or subject to reckless weaving in and out of lanes by trucks which could proverbially squash you like a bug.
On the other hand, these trucks for better or worse are also tenfold in the public awareness. Every time there is a delay in their movement via a strike or inclement weather etc, the media empathizes as does the trucking industry just how invaluable they are, and how commerce is effected as well as the consumer. The only exposure the public has with railroads via the media are essentially either derailments or other accidents. One cannot fault the media, even Trains Newswire whose job it is to report the news, but look at the percentage of stories that are either derailments or accidents, etc. Some years ago, I interviewed for a position with the UP. I have been interested in railroads since I was cognizant of their existence and I was dumbfounded and surprised by the presentation of facts of how railroads benefit this country which obviously was provided with a wonderful sense of pride. There are innumerable opportunities in several areas for the railroads to promote their interests which are also public interests. The only big media frenzy in recent times concerning the industry was the bankruptcy of the eastern roads and the government “bailout” resulting in Conrail. Look at Amtrak, which is ironically more visible than the roads it operates on…a lot of the public (whether you agree or not) sees this as another “bailout” of a private enterprise namely the railroads. Sad but true.