UP as a host?

[edblysard]

For those of you who like bashing UP, think about this.

Today, the Steam crew, with #3985, played host to paitents from the MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital, and their parents.
Took them on a four hour ramble around Houston, feed them lunch, free...

Man, what a bunch of insensitive louts...huh.

Ed

[Anonymous]

Nice mission of mercy. Didn't UP also take that kid in Idaho on a cab ride as his wish under the auspices of the Make A Wish Foundation?

LC

[BaltACD]

Even the worst of companies can put on a good PR event to make headlines and fill community interest sections of newspapers.

PR is all about selling and spinning the sizzle....trying to do something about the real meat of situations is a much different task.

[JoeKoh]

Ed
great news!
stay safe
joe

[mudchicken]

Ed:

Hats off again to Steve Lee and his people! Don't know why BaltAC is so cynical, but then again class will trump cynicism most days...

[X-)][X-)][X-)]

[BaltACD]

39 years of playing the railroad game for real breeds cynicism....when you see the PR side and the Real side...side by side, you become distrustful of the PR.

[edblysard]

I work for the "real" side, as a switchman at the PTRA...so I know the difference between PR, and a serious gesture of goodwill.

Instead of the big time production, with all the media in attendence, the Steam Team quitely invited the paitents and their parents on a tour of the train and locomotive, then decided to run them around the city.
The local ABC affiliate only managed to get shots of the end, because one of the reporters here has a son in MD Anderson, both he and his son went on the ride.

Mudchicken is right, class shows.

By the way, BaltACD, which steam locomotive has your railroad perserved, run, and allowed a bunch of cancer paitents to take a ride on, fed them lunch, all for free, just because they happened to be in the neighborhood?

Ed

[jeffhergert]

I saw today at work on the UP's info TV that for employees in the reserves or guard that are called to active duty, the UP will compensate them for any difference between their military pay and railroad pay.
The UP may not be perfect, but once in a while they do something good.
I also would expect all the people who are very anti-UP for whatever reason, would be ignoring the 3985 or 844 when they travel about the UP system.