I found the following picture, which I thought some of you might find interesting. In the first half of the 20th century, "kit homes" were a popular idea for the do-it-yourself'er.
One of the companies competing in that market prepared the following illustration to demonstrate that all the necessary items to build one home could fit into a (then) standard boxcar.
I'm speculating, but my guess their intent was to expand the range of their market, from regional, to national. Once it's on a box car, it can go anywhere, not just across the basin.
Since creative minds were once able to use railroads to market their idea, what is to prevent railroads from using ideas to promote their services. As we dwell on all this "spilled milk" we read about declining volume, isn't it about time the railroads re-engage their marketing minds and use ideas to promote railroading? Or are they just going to sit around bickering that "the only business we've lost is customers unwilling to pay a fair price"?
Convicted OneOne of the companies competing in that market prepared the following illustration to demonstrate that all the necessary items to build one home could fit into a (then) standard boxcar.
A modern equivalent is the later Buckminster Fuller study on buildings that folded up into 'ISO container' format (and presumable full intermodal handling and transport facility, although I don't remember concerns like sideloading or twistlock castings being specifically mentioned, and of course this was before the era of proven stack-train operation and economics). The very specific applicability of this to both private and FEMA disaster relief has come to mind several times in the years since I read about the idea.
I remain unsure why someone, somewhere, has not built up the organization and the relationships to provide both billboard and 'sponsor'-type smaller advertising on railroad cars. In the years since deregulation, and especially with the Federal government now limiting its scope to 'safety', it seems that the opportunity has only increased; when you consider that graffiti amelioration becomes part of what advertising promoters might actively provide, the potential becomes even sweeter...
The problem, of course, is that any advertising on the usual sorts of loose car that see 'tagging' would come in for its own special 'attention', quite possibly involving spider-egg-style underhanded campaigns by, or for the benefit of, competitors. Combine this with the fun of safe assured access to put up and maintain all the ads in the current 'railroad environments' where work would have to be done, and I think you have the answer as far as most 'professional advertising firms' would be concerned.
That's a shame, because we know that light and motion are 'better' safety devices, so the usual laws against showing 'movie' video where drivers can see it might not apply. I leave it to the Ridley Scotts of this world to imagine the fun experience of being 'entertained' by progressive boxcar or hopper sides as you wait at a grade crossing -- possibly tailored to someone's version of buying preferences related to your phone's ratting your location out. Think of the fun of being able to read your dancing-graphics and animated-emoji e-mail or catching up on your BFFs' latest 5 minute LOLfest right out the window of your personal electric rental pod or whatever ttrraaffiicc will have succeeded in touting by that time! Heck, in the last few years of groaning PSR operation the trains will be so long and slow that you could watch the whole of Koyaanisqatsi on demand right there for free!
Well, I was thinking more along the lines of "shoe soles on pavement" type marketing, Where someone might devise a clever scheme and actually go out a do grass roots promotion, but that's probably expecting more effort than the railroads are willing to invest?
As far as live action billboards are involved, I recall out in California there was some push back from auto insurance lobbyists, because it was felt that compelling use of such media too close to the roadway might cause distraction.
I suppose it would only bee a short skip until people broadsiding trains at grade crossings would claim they had been mesmerized by the video stream running on the side of the boxcar.
In the example of the kit home, it appears to be a new idea of marketing the kit home, but maybe not a new idea of railroad marketing. It may have just been standard rail service back then. Nevertheless, it does raise the question of why railroads cannot do effective marketing. Rarely can business succeed without effective marketing. Does railroad management know that anymore? If they do understand marketing, they must feel that it can do no good in the railroad industry.
Using railcar sides as billboards for marketing would seem to be an entirely different concept than the railroads using their own marketing to improve business.
The house I grew up in was from a Sears Roebuck catalogue, shipped by rail.
EuclidEuclid wrote the following post an hour ago: In the example of the kit home, it appears to be a new idea of marketing the kit home, but maybe not a new idea of railroad marketing. It may have just been standard rail service back then.
I think the point was just to show how easily all the stuff would fit into just one carload; there wouldn't have been any practical alternative to a railroad car in that era.
It does have to be said that the drawing is a bit naive on how all that stuff got so neatly arranged inside the car as pictured... or how easily it could be extracted from where the car would be spotted. Whether that is 'forgivable' enough is an issue for debate in the 'semantics of advertising' -- my own opinion is that the ad is just showing how the tight modular packaging has been thought out, not necessarily that you send one boxcar and it will arrive ready for quick unpacking FOB Valeria or wherever E.E.Smith intends to put his house up.
It might be nice to see railroads selling space on their cars, but the need to keep graffiti controlled, alone, would disinterest most 'current' management from trying. This would be like that wrap-car advertising scam being foisted on millennials -- 'earn an income free by using your car for GEICO or whatever promotion', where the fine print says your car has to be late-model without dents, that your driving record is good, that you live in a good neighborhood with an acceptable job and adequate evidence of positive bank balance and no debts, etc.etc.etc. just so you can have your vehicle dressed up as a clown car and then kept clean and untattered at your own sole expense. Railroads can't assure this, and they won't pay someone else to do it, and anyone who 'would' will start cutting corners as soon as the windfall-level easy net revenue doesn't start piling in.
Any such business would have to be built, and probably only in coordination with other aspects of coherent campaigns. Again, something at which I think nearly every modern class I railroad sucks. Therefore the tacit dependence on some organization that Pullman-like would outsource the service-critical stuff in return for minimized payment for the 'opportunity' and limits on downside risk and operating cost.
I do confess the dancing billboards are dystopian sarcasm. Although I can easily build and program them if "desired".
Overmod. . . you could watch the whole of Koyaanisqatsi on demand right there for free!
- PDN.
My grandfather had a house purchased from Sears and delivered as a kit in a single box car to the LIRR station in Oyster Bay NY.
I doubt that the typical freight car gets enough public exposure for advertising to work. Maybe commuter trains.
Mark Vinski
matthewsaggie My grandfather had a house purchased from Sears and delivered as a kit in a single box car to the LIRR station in Oyster Bay NY.
There is a small subdivision on the southeastern side of Parsons, Kansas; that still has a number of these houses, still in use. They were deivered when the MKT RR still had their LTL car load operations ands consumer in place.
Their wall construction was sort of unique; as it utilized a side wall construction techinque that had framed squares within. Not the usual[current?] wall stud construction, commonly in use today.(?)
Here's a potential boxcar advertiser. Aerosol spraypaint manufacturers. The copy could read, "Steal a can from your local hardware store today!"
Team tracks are largely a thing of the past and cross-dock operations would gouge the house in a boxcars buyer.
Gramp Here's a potential boxcar advertiser. Aerosol spraypaint manufacturers. The copy could read, "Steal a can from your local hardware store today!"
With said graphics added using "rattle cans..."
Although I've seen some that used a whole case...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I have a friend who at one time lived in one of those all-steel houses that were marketed right after WWII.
It's amazing the number of places that rust will start in an "all steel" home after 40 years.
Two points:
The railroads' marketing departments lack the capabilities to market their own services, let alone someone else's new product.
Another concept was Frank Lloyd Wright's "automatic Usonian" homes using formed and textured concrete blocks.
There is a concept house at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI built using aircraft construction techniques. Clearly, the idea never caught on...
I would imagine that such a structure could be modularized.
Convicted One I have a friend who at one time lived in one of those all-steel houses that were marketed right after WWII. It's amazing the number of places that rust will start in an "all steel" home after 40 years.
There was one of those still surviving in Hot Springs, AR in 1982. I looked at it when looking for a place to live there, but passed on it. Just felt too much like living in a metal box.
Convicted OneI have a friend who at one time lived in one of those all-steel houses that were marketed right after WWII. It's amazing the number of places that rust will start in an "all steel" home after 40 years.
When I attended Purdue, the Chemistry Lab was in a WW II era Quonset Hut made of what looked like large diameter culvert steel. They were only 25-30 years old at them time - dank, rusty and smelly. Doubt they still exist today - 55 years later.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
They were LUSTRON
Per Wikipedia, "Lustron houses are prefabricated enameled steel houses developed in the post-World War II era United States in response to the shortage of homes for returning GIs by Chicago industrialist and inventor Carl Strandlund."..."From its plant in Columbus, Ohio (the former Curtiss-Wright factory), the corporation eventually constructed 2,498 Lustron homes between 1948 and 1950.[3] The houses sold for between $8,500 and $9,500, according to a March 1949 article in the Columbus Dispatch—about 25 percent less than comparable conventional housing."
There are a number in the western Chicago suburbs and I have not heard of any rust issues. The enameled steel design was used for gas stations and some other structures. The initial design was a small two bed home but the company didn't grow before they fell out of favor. The are hard to modify and if the family out grew them, they couldn't expand them. Fire resistant. Termite proof.
The thing about those steel homes is, you had to remain ever vigilant that you never made any modifications that brought about galvanic corrosion. Copper plumbing, groundwiring, the wrong kind of dryer venting,....could lead to serious regrets unless installed with knowing awareness.
When working on a house you tend to want to do a good job, and then forget about it. My buddy's house someone had installed a large VHF antenna, probably back in the 50's.And they did it with a large metal mast that went up a remote side of the house, and which was well grounded with a copper lead and ground spike. And there were a few points of attachment up the side of the house, for stability. Between the elements and the shade of neglected shrubbery, it turned into a problem by the early 80's.
Of course once you discover the problem, it's beyond "minor" in scope.
Exactly the reverse with anything aluminum, the aluminum suffers.
charlie hebdoAnother concept was Frank Lloyd Wright's "automatic Usonian" homes using formed and textured concrete blocks.
My greatest single conscious regret is not buying La Miniatura in Pasadena when I had the chance, in the mid-Nineties. That was, and is, one of the very best examples of both Weightisn design and use of the structural system.
New ideas in housing always attract attention, but never catch on. The new ideas come with new features that are the selling points, but all new features have downsides that are not mentioned and not realized by the unwary buyer.
The feature claims for new ideas are comfort, low cost, energy efficiency, futuristic style, low maintenance, tiny, portable, and saving the planet with low a low carbon footprint. And no thermal bridging.
I once built a geodesic dome, but sold it before I ever assembled it on a site. Domes were promoted for their ability to enclose the greatest volume with the smallest surface area, a claim with little merit for a home. One of the latest house trend ideas is “resiliency,” which protects the house if we don’t save the planet.
Of all house types, geodesic domes are perhaps the most demanding of material quality. Yet the original dome craze also included the use of scrounged materials to save costs. This frugality included using axes to hack out the triangular sheathing panels from the sheet metal of junked car hoods.
In general, a homebuyer is just murdered with the highest cost for the lowest quality construction. And the building culture is not about to approve of any idea that just slight departs from their mainstream.
Probably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential. However, that is less than what most towns require as a minimum size for houses which is typically 750 sq. ft. Tiny house gets around that requirement by not having a permanent foundation. And then with that objective met, you get the freedom of house portability.
mvlandsw I doubt that the typical freight car gets enough public exposure for advertising to work. Maybe commuter trains. Mark Vinski
And even that is basically worthless ad space. I remember DC Metro having a hard time attracting advertisers because things like buses and subway trains bleed into the background. No one looks at them. The two biggest ad buyers on them are the DC government and Metro itself. That's not exactly the situation you want.
EuclidProbably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential.
I think that trend will be ending quickly after our little experiment with Covid-19 and quarantines. No room for storage of supplies and no room for people that may have to work at home.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
zugmann Euclid Probably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential. I think that trend will be ending quickly after our little experiment with Covid-19 and quarantines. No room for storage of supplies and no room for people that may have to work at home.
Euclid Probably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential.
EuclidMaybe so. Althouth for those who are able to work at home, they can always add a tiny work space. You just pull out a drawer, and there is your work station.
Unless they work in a fireld where they need 3 computers adn 6 monitors.
Be a big drawer.
Euclid Probably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential. However, that is less than what most towns require as a minimum size for houses which is typically 750 sq. ft. Tiny house gets around that requirement by not having a permanent foundation. And then with that objective met, you get the freedom of house portability.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Sidingseen only on reality TV anymore.
Just like painting over beautiful brick fireplaces.
Murphy Siding Euclid Probably the strongest new trend is Tiny House. Apparently, that concept is based on a unique convergence requiring a smaller size to reduce the cost by providing only the house that is actually essential. However, that is less than what most towns require as a minimum size for houses which is typically 750 sq. ft. Tiny house gets around that requirement by not having a permanent foundation. And then with that objective met, you get the freedom of house portability. The tiny house thing is a quickly disappearing fad, seen only on reality TV anymore. They're not cheap to build . In the end, what's accomplished is building a high priced RV. The RV industry does that and does it better. Why reinvent the wheel? Most people who buy their first home are moving out of a cramped apartment with no storage. The tiny house concept would not appeal to most homeowners.
The tiny house thing is a quickly disappearing fad, seen only on reality TV anymore. They're not cheap to build . In the end, what's accomplished is building a high priced RV. The RV industry does that and does it better. Why reinvent the wheel? Most people who buy their first home are moving out of a cramped apartment with no storage. The tiny house concept would not appeal to most homeowners.
They are not my cup of tea. But as a housing fad, they have been the most popular. And they to tend to be adored by local governments who see the tiny house with its tiny footprint as being Earth-friendly.
I am working on house designs that are compact, but not to the point that it interferes with living. They will require foundations. They include a series of features that enhance the funcionality of comfortable, convenient living. They are highly functional with very high quality materials, components, and fixtures. They are more like precision machines for living, as opposed to an architectual fashion statement.
EuclidI am working on house designs that are compact, but not to the point that it interferes with living. They will require foundations. They include a series of features that enhance the funcionality of comfortable, convenient living. They are highly functional with very high quality materials, components, and fixtures. They are more like precision machines for living, as opposed to an architectual fashion statement.
So basically how houses were built 50 years ago?
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