Western Railroad Discussion > A Questionable Choice In Niles

For a place like Niles with a rich railroad history, I would think they could have found a more authentic train to help advertise their farmers market.

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Oh, for Pete's sake. That's pathetic.

Posted from Android

A mistake worthy of Moe, Larry and Curly.  You would think that at least ONE person involved with the event would have spotted it.  But then, what percentage of the public would know that wasn't American RR equipment?  Anyone want to venture a guess?  I see the same thing in movies and television on a regular basis.

-John 

Let me guess, stock photo that they didn't have to pay for.

I saw the new Tom Hanks movie the other night at the theater, and there was a Vietnam-war era scene where Hanks' character — played by his son, Truman — was at a train station waiting for his passenger train. In the background there was a string of modern-day auto racks, that most certainly weren't running in the 1960s.

P Wrote:
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> Oh, for Pete's sake. That's pathetic.

I'm smiling.

They forgot to put Laurel and Hardy (instead of a historically-relevant silent era actor) onboard the train.

There's this in Brenham, Texas: https://www.brenhammenus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Santa-Fe-SP-Cafe-Brenham-Texas.jpg

I do hear, however, the food is really good.

Matthew

Whoever cooked up this poster could have had their pick of many many good photos from Niles Canyon Railway at www.ncry.org. 

The use of "its a train, and I like the color... what do you mean its the wrong train in the wrong country?" images is all too common these days in advertising and news briefs. 

- Doug Debs
Niles Canyon Railway volunteer

As others have alluded to, the average Jamoke doesn't know or care a whit about railroads here, or anywhere else.
As a result, the ones tasked with providing any sort of railroad information or graphics will simply use a search function and use the first results that pop up.

Historical accuracy or integrity be darned - we've got a cheesy product to turn out...

S_W

Posted from Android

DWDebs/2472 Wrote:
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> Whoever cooked up this poster could have had their
> pick of many many good photos from Niles Canyon
> Railway at www.ncry.org. 
>
> The use of "its a train, and I like the color...
> what do you mean its the wrong train in the wrong
> country?" images is all too common these days in
> advertising and news briefs. 
>
> - Doug Debs
> Niles Canyon Railway volunteer

But would they have had to pay for those photos? Since it was for a "for profit" operation my guess is yes.

I like buffers🌝

SR

DWDebs/2472 Wrote:
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> Whoever cooked up this poster could have had their
> pick of many many good photos from Niles Canyon
> Railway at www.ncry.org. 
>
> The use of "its a train, and I like the color...
> what do you mean its the wrong train in the wrong
> country?" images is all too common these days in
> advertising and news briefs. 
>
> - Doug Debs
> Niles Canyon Railway volunteer

I was looking to hire an electrical contractor recently, here in Tacoma, WA.  I saw more than one company website that had stock photos of distribution panels that were clearly from foreign countries, not of their work.  I took my business elsewhere.

The American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation ran an ad in the June 2015 RAILFAN magazine with an image that turned out to be a Russian train, and not only was it Russian, but it was flopped-  knuckle was backwards and left-hand running of an electrified train.

That's hard to top for an inappropriate image....

PHall Wrote:
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> But would they have had to pay for those photos?
> Since it was for a "for profit" operation my guess
> is yes.

That's less factual than you preach, as that's purely speculative. You're assuming people make rational, financial decisions, and many recent events prove otherwise.

I think the "wrong" train was picked mostly for aesthetic reasons, echoing most of the sentiments in this thread. I'm sure there are plenty of American train images (restored 4-4-0 for instance) that would be "free." It'd be really funny if the poster artist paid for this foreign tank engine + train image.

Here's a better yet more cynical speculation. Knowing the hassles involved in enforcing copyright issues, they used a foreign train on purpose.

I've yet to see car shows put up posters with "wrong" cars, like a Japanese sports car for a hot rod show. The hobby's popularity would make the mistake unforgiveable. I just accept the fact that trains are not widely appreciated in general..This mistake is funny in a good-natured way. 

PHall Wrote:
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> Let me guess, stock photo that they didn't have to
> pay for.

There are several free use with credit and public domain websites that I occasionally troll for presentation illustrations. All it takes is a little work.

TAW

At least it doesn't have a face on the front of the smokebox.