Why "Pan Am"

[CJtrainguy]

Semper Vaporo

No, I will not send over another portion of deep-fried squid. This is not the Chinese take-away. You are connected to a private residence on a white, slimlined telephone with last-number redial facility. - Hyacinth Bouquet (Bucket) "Keeping Up Appearances"

 

Good one! Extra points.

A friend of mine repeatedly got phone calls at his home number for some girl named Lisa. Finally he got tired of it and told anyone calling that she'd moved to Alaska. Some time later he met the actual Lisa only to find out that she had in real life recently moved to Alaska.

[tree68]

Deggesty

As to telephone calls,

When I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, my number was not far removed from both the officers club and the emergency number (pre-9-1-1).  I never got any emergency calls, but did get one or two for the club...

The spam callers are now spoofing local numbers.  As I get calls regarding renting our banquet hall, I can't simply ignore them, or use a smart alec response, although I am sorely tempted to do so.

My favorite is the one where the recipient of a telemarketing call posed as a police detective and was questioning the telemarketer about the "murder"...

[Semper Vaporo]

When I get calls for, well, anyone, I always answer "Speaking".  Some of the reactions are too funny to keep up the charade, but I try and sometimes it gets even funnier.

"Hellen?"

"Speaking." (in my normal MALE voice).

"WOW I heard you had a bad cold!  Are you seeing doctor?"

"No."

"Ummm... well I was going to ask if you could get away from John this evening and we could get together, for some.... well... you know."

"Well... maybe you and John could get together instead?"

"Uh!  You mean, he knows?"

"Sure, he said he'd like to join us some evening."

-----------

You should hear what I do to telemarketers!  They are the most fun.

[Deggesty]

From time to time, I get a call from someone wantin to sell something such as solar panels. When I tell the caller that I live in an apartment, the usual response is that the caller hangs up immediately.

Oh, yes, some callers want to speak to "John Deg-ges;" I say, "This is John Degges (one syllable), and if the caller apologizes, I say, "It's not a common name."

[Norm48327]

Johnny,

I empathize. I have a rare surname. There are less than fifty of us in the US and the spelling usually leads people to misprounence it.

Welcome to the world of illiterates who only see what they want to see. I, too, am of the old school, and will ask the correct pronunciation of a name I am not familiar with.

[Lithonia Operator]

I live in northern New England. Guilford Transportation had a TERRIBLE reputation. Worst PR imaginable. Pan Am is a revered trademark with positive vibes. I’m guessing when Mellon found the brand for sale cheap, he figured they had no place to go but up with renaming the railroad Pam Am. I have done business with the Amtrak-operated Downeaster; my impression is that the passenger service has a pretty good relationship now with Pan Am. It’s still odd to see that famous logo on the freight RR’s diesels.

[Murphy Siding]

Norm48327

Johnny,

I empathize. I have a rare surname. There are less than fifty of us in the US and the spelling usually leads people to misprounence it.

Welcome to the world of illiterates who only see what they want to see. I, too, am of the old school, and will ask the correct pronunciation of a name I am not familiar with.

 

My last name is rare, hard to pronounce and hard to spell. If I run accross someone with the last name, I know we're related.My father always sent back bills that had his name wrong. He simply wrote "Not me" on the envelope.

[Enzoamps]

What is wrong with Pan Am?  Pan American.  Pan means across.  So "Across America".

[Gramp]

I wonder what would have happened to railroad names had the government not blocked the railroads from moving further into air travel?

[IslandMan]

jeffhergert

 

 

IslandMan

 

 

Enzoamps

Well, one railroad does not a trend make.   Over the years how many railroads were named the Something & Pacific, when they didn't come near the Pacific?

Guilford is regional, but they probably do not intend to be that way forever, PanAm is a stronger marketing tool.

 

 

 

 

 

'Pan Am' to most people means international air travel, even if the airline bearing that name has long since gone bankrupt. Would 'Rock Island Line' be a good brand name for an up-and-coming airline?

Perhaps 'Can Am Railways' would have been more appropriate, different enough from 'Pan Am' to avoid confusion but similar enough to piggyback brand recognition.  They could still have used the old airline's colours and insignia.  'Can[ada] Am[erica] Railways' also neatly summarises the railway's geographical position and cross-border connections.

 

 

 

 

 

I think the Can Am motorcycle people may have an issue with Can Am Railways.

https://can-am.brp.com/

A group proposing a major electrical transmission line project has used (and modifed) "Rock Island Line" into Rock Island Clean Line.  (Being a RI fan, I am not amused.)    https://www.rockislandcleanline.com/site/home 

Jeff

 

Oh well, back to the drawing board! I still think that using a bankrupt airline's name for a regional railroad is a pretty weird idea, owing more to the owner's personal enthusiasms than commercial considerations.

I suppose the difference between 'Rock Island Line' and 'Pan Am' is that the former incorporates the full name of a real place whereas the latter does not. There must be many businesses in Rock Island IL that use 'Rock Island' as part of their brand name.

There other ways in which a name for the railway could hint at 'Pan Am' without using that name explicitly. I think I'll keep them in my head and do some research, before registering them...well, you never know, might be a useful source of income for my dotage.

Unrelated to railways or indeed Pan Am, here is a bit of commercial cunning which people might find mildly amusing:

After the downfall of the USSR, the big Western washing powder manufacturers launched a huge multi-million dollar advertising campaign in Russia. One of the advertising slogans used was "You only need half as much [famous washing powder  X] as ordinary powder".  The owners of a rusty Soviet-era chemical plant had a 'lightbulb moment'. They knew that the stuff they made was indeed about half as effective as the Western brands, but on the other hand it was about ten times cheaper. They quickly started using the brand name 'Ordinary Powder' and thereby effectively obtained millions of dollars worth of free advertising!*

 

*Addendum: In case you thought that this was a piece of BS, here's a link to the website of the manufacturer of 'Ordinary Powder'!:

http://www.nevcos.ru/catalog/seriyaobichniyporoshok/

 

[tree68]

IslandMan

Unrelated to railways or indeed Pan Am, here is a bit of commercial cunning which people might find mildly amusing:

Well, this isn't commercial, but...

Saw a picture of a fire scene not long ago, and it's obvious that the firefighters from one station had heard the joke:

A fellow saw some firefighters with "None" on their t-shirts.  Asked for an explanation, the firefighters observed that a neighboring fire department had as a motto, "Second to None."  So they were "None."  

A truck at that fire scene had clearly emblazened on the side of the cab, "None."

[Phoebe Vet]

Look how much free advertizing PanAm gets from conversations just like this.

[IslandMan]

Murphy Siding

 

 

 

Randy Stahl

 

 

 

 

 

 I think they do get calls from people that want to buy a vintage stewardess uniform or an ashtray .. 

 

 

 

 

Really? I thought the French Maid's outfit was the most popular.

 

 

 

I wonder if Larry Flynt thought of putting in a bid for the Pan Am intellectual property? The brand would certainly stand out used as the title of a (ahem) 'top shelf' magazine and associated merchandise.

He could have financed the purchase by selling off one of his own brands.  No doubt Tim Mellon of Guilford Transportation Industries would have been interested.  'Hustler Railways' is a pretty memorable name, don't you think? 

[Deggesty]

Enzoamps

What is wrong with Pan Am?  Pan American.  Pan means across.  So "Across America".

 

I don't know about the Latin, but the Greek word "pan" means "all."

[samfp1943]

Gramp

I wonder what would have happened to railroad names had the government not blocked the railroads from moving further into air travel?

 

Hello, GRAMP: Do You Recall(?)

    Southern Pacific operated their airline 'Daylight Service' between LAX and SFO -  The plaines were decorated similarly to the trains - .

    Santa Fe RR operated their 'Skyway'  , It was originally[late 1940's(?) ], to be part of their cross country service for rail passengers... Ride the trains at night, and sleep; fly in the daytime.  Sort of a 'Fly Chico' service(?).  It utilized some surplus ex- military C-54's . At one point Wichita was a 'base' for its operations.

 The CAA stopped it early on...They could be a railroad, OR an Airline; but not both-was the Governmemt's position.  

 Those are just some from memory..

 And then there was the Burlington Northern Air Freight (BNAF),[ about early 1980's(?) ]...Base was in Ft. Wayne, and they utilized Boeing 707 type aircraft service their original network of about 10 cities. 

  And in amongst those operations, railroads operated their own trucking operations, and passenger buses as well...Subjects for another time!

[Overmod]

He's probably thinking of the movie term.  'Across' of course would be 'trans' as in Pan Am's competitor TWA...

[Miningman]

Then of course there is the Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, and it's oil pan, the Trans-Am Pan. 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

IslandMan

. . . 'Hustler Railways' is a pretty memorable name, don't you think? 

Back in the 1960's - 1980's era, an HO model railroad manufacturer named Athearn had a line of tiny diesels named the "Hustler", perhaps based on some small industrial switcher.  They were (in)famous for their rubber-band drives and outrageously high scale speeds.

http://www.tcawestern.org/images/athearn6.jpg 

- PDN. 

[Semper Vaporo]

IslandMan

{Snip}

After the downfall of the USSR, the big Western washing powder manufacturers launched a huge multi-million dollar advertising campaign in Russia. One of the advertising slogans used was "You only need half as much [famous washing powder  X] as ordinary powder".  The owners of a rusty Soviet-era chemical plant had a 'lightbulb moment'. They knew that the stuff they made was indeed about half as effective as the Western brands, but on the other hand it was about ten times cheaper. They quickly started using the brand name 'Ordinary Powder' and thereby effectively obtained millions of dollars worth of free advertising!*

*Addendum: In case you thought that this was a piece of BS, here's a link to the website of the manufacturer of 'Ordinary Powder'!:

http://www.nevcos.ru/catalog/seriyaobichniyporoshok/

In the 1950's there were many advertisments where a product was pitted against 'Brand X'... and it wasn't long before some other manufacturers had products named, 'Brand X' for sale.

And, of course, today I take "Nothing" for a headache, because as all the analgesic companies claim, "Nothing is better!" than their product.  I do the same for an upset stomach... "Nothing is better" than any of the stomach remedies for sale today!

[54light15]

Is nothing sacred? 

[SD70Dude]

samfp1943

    Southern Pacific operated their airline 'Daylight Service' between LAX and SFO -  The plaines were decorated similarly to the trains - .

    Santa Fe RR operated their 'Skyway'  , It was originally[late 1940's(?) ], to be part of their cross country service for rail passengers... Ride the trains at night, and sleep; fly in the daytime.  Sort of a 'Fly Chico' service(?).  It utilized some surplus ex- military C-54's . At one point Wichita was a 'base' for its operations.

 The CAA stopped it early on...They could be a railroad, OR an Airline; but not both-was the Governmemt's position.  

 Those are just some from memory..

 And then there was the Burlington Northern Air Freight (BNAF),[ about early 1980's(?) ]...Base was in Ft. Wayne, and they utilized Boeing 707 type aircraft service their original network of about 10 cities. 

Up North we had CP Air and the CN-owned Trans-Canada Airlines.  

TCA eventually became Air Canada, and ended up taking over what was left of CP Air, which by then had been sold to Pacific Western, with the combined company renamed Canadian Airlines.

[tree68]

 

[spsffan]

EVERYWHERE WEST!

[pajrr]

I want to know who the heck named luggage after Amelia Earhart?

[jeffhergert]

IslandMan

 

I suppose the difference between 'Rock Island Line' and 'Pan Am' is that the former incorporates the full name of a real place whereas the latter does not. There must be many businesses in Rock Island IL that use 'Rock Island' as part of their brand name.

 

The people pushing the transmission line that are using the name "Rock Island Clean Line" has nothing to do with the city of Rock Island, IL or Rock Islands in other locations.  They are capitalizing on the song referencing the railroad*.

I bet many have heard of the song, even if they've never actually heard the song itself.  It's a part of Americana and they're using that to push their project.  Along the lines that the original song was about a railroad, an industry in the past that helped build America.  Now the transmission line will help to provide clean (wind produced) energy to an America who's future will depend on clean, fossil-free electricity for it's power needs.  (Note, this is their idea, not mine.  I am not adverse to coal or oil based energy.)  They need to play up this connection because many of the people who don't want oil pipelines under their feet also don't want high voltage transmission lines over their heads. 

*Rock Island Line is the name of a song.  The name of the railroad was Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.  "Rock Island Lines" did appear at the top of most company stationary until the late 70s when the entire name started to replace it.  Along with that change, the traditional Rock Island herald was replaced by the stylized R and The Rock logo. 

Jeff 

[KBCpresident]

I guess my concern would be that the Pan Am name would never be able to be reapplied to an airline if Guilford did that. SOunds to me like a PanAm exists in the air so... never mind that. It''s important to remember that PanAm's PR wasn't spotless either (Lockerbie). 

On a sidenote, what would BNSF be named? My votes:
Braniff Railways (I'm not done wiht that, I think it's funny. They could even do that wierd pain think that Braniff did on its airraft.)
 Atlantic & Pacific (Already owns the trademark from the ATSF and it seems almost fitting
Berkshire Railways (obvious reasons, although i hear that Mr. Buffett has very little to do wiht the railroad's day to day)

[KBCpresident]

And regarding telephones, I for the longest time got calls for some collection agency tryign to get car payments for a . "James Sullenger" (Sp?) I was fifteen at the time and it became a bit of a problem. One day while I was in the car with my Dad, they called. He pulled the phone from my hands and told them "This phone belongs to a minor; if you call again I will take legal action."
The number of times they have called me since (ten years)  can be counted on one hand Some times you just got to be harsh with them, I guess.

I like mispronumciations, because that way you can say "you have the wrong number" without lying. If ythey are lookign for Mrs. Johnson and they say "Mrs. Janson" they do indeed have the wrong number

[IslandMan]

jeffhergert

 

 

IslandMan

 

I suppose the difference between 'Rock Island Line' and 'Pan Am' is that the former incorporates the full name of a real place whereas the latter does not. There must be many businesses in Rock Island IL that use 'Rock Island' as part of their brand name.

 

 

 

 

The people pushing the transmission line that are using the name "Rock Island Clean Line" has nothing to do with the city of Rock Island, IL or Rock Islands in other locations.  They are capitalizing on the song referencing the railroad*.

I bet many have heard of the song, even if they've never actually heard the song itself.  It's a part of Americana and they're using that to push their project.  Along the lines that the original song was about a railroad, an industry in the past that helped build America.  Now the transmission line will help to provide clean (wind produced) energy to an America who's future will depend on clean, fossil-free electricity for it's power needs.  (Note, this is their idea, not mine.  I am not adverse to coal or oil based energy.)  They need to play up this connection because many of the people who don't want oil pipelines under their feet also don't want high voltage transmission lines over their heads. 

*Rock Island Line is the name of a song.  The name of the railroad was Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.  "Rock Island Lines" did appear at the top of most company stationary until the late 70s when the entire name started to replace it.  Along with that change, the traditional Rock Island herald was replaced by the stylized R and The Rock logo. 

Jeff 

 

 

Thanks for the info. I didn't know about the transmission line. I knew about the song. Have the transmission line people attempted to use the song itelf in their publicity material, rather than just vaguely referencing it?

Incidentally, the 'Rock' name and logo used shortly before the line closed down would make a good brand for e.g. a range of clothing. Have the owner(s) of this piece of intellectual property done anything with it?

 

[CandOforprogress2]

Larry Flynt did have Hustler Airlines.

[BLS53]

The idea was to create a new Pan Am, with hubs at the old Pease AFB in Maine, and Sanford FL outside Orlando. I have a Navy buddy who was in on the ground floor, with putting together an operations dept. But like most post-dereg start-ups,  it was not to be. Lasted 1999 to 2002 I believe.