Great Big Rolling Railroad Contest

[jdirelan87]

UP, once again, proves its the only railroad that even remotely cares at all about railfans with this great contest in support of the company's 150th birthday, complete with cash reward.

Of course, everywhere I look in the railfan world, people are ripping UP apart for their efforts, with complaints ranging from its stance on "no trespassing" to trying to save money on hiring a professional advertising company....

As for me, I'll be seriously considering upgrading to a D300s and taking a month of during summer to partake in the fun. And for all the haters, call me when BNSF, NS, CSX, CN, CP, KCS or another other railroad does anything even as half as cool as this.... or for that matter paints their locomotives in commemorative schemes, or maintains a heritage fleet, or does anything to honor our hobby's history.

The links;
http://www.up150.com/gbrr/get-started
http://www.up150.com/gbrr/rules

[JimThias]

Unless you are a Union Pacific employee, it is illegal for you to be within 70 ft of train tracks. Trespassers will be disqualified.

70 feet??? Since when? And in what areas? Rural? City? Private property? Public? You can walk down the sidewalk in Any City, USA, where UP has tracks and be much closer than 70 feet. So where exactly does this 70-ft rule start and stop?

[FastFlyingVirginian]

What the - no nudity? Well dang, mark THAT idea off the list... (scribbles in notebook)

[bigbassloyd]

haha.. 70 feet.

Loyd L.

[hoydie17]

I'd never want to enter any contest endorsed by one of the Class 1's again.

I entered one from CSX about 5 years ago, didn't win, which was just fine. But a buddy of mine when to engineer's school last year and saw the photo I submitted in one of his books he was given. I didn't believe him at first, but he brought a copy of the book home for me.

Sure as hell, a shot I'd taken of a CSX train on Sandpatch in 2005 was on the inside cover, no credits or anything given. When I called CSX to inquire as to why they would use my photo without giving them permission, I got some snobby little intern who tried to tell me, "Any photo submitted to CSX is submitted with the knowledge that the photo is granted with full reproduction rights to CSX to use any way that they may see fit."

Nowhere was that stated in any of the fine print of the contest rules that I had been given. Although it did state that the contest was open to EMPLOYEES ONLY which I failed to notice when I submitted.

I called an attorney friend of mine and talked to him about it. He said that I had a case, but advised me that the best bet was to send them a cease and desist letter, since it would cost more in court fees than I could possibly get in damages. (They weren't selling the books for profit.)

So he gave me a template to use, and I sent the letter certified mail. Got a response by e-mail a few weeks later stating that they would cease using the photo immediately, but asked for my understanding that they would have to use up the remaining books with the photo before they could produce new ones.

Come to find out, BNSF, UP and KCS have all pulled similar antics before. So be weary of submitting anything to them that you don't want published everywhere.

Before you go on saying "What's the big deal? It's one photo." Consider the fact that UP could later go on to provide those photos to another publisher or author for use in a book or magazine in which a profit could be generated without anything more than a "credit line" to UPRR or whoever's railroad is depicted in the image. Because it was UPRR that gave them the photo, not you...

I don't do this stuff to make a profit mind you, but if anyone is going to make money off of my photos, it's going to be me.

FYI

[Joe the Photog]

Originally Posted by hoydie17

I called an attorney friend of mine and talked to him about it. He said that I had a case, but advised me that the best bet was to send them a cease and desist letter, since it would cost more in court fees than I could possibly get in damages. (They weren't selling the books for profit.)

Respectfully, I think your friend gave you lousy advice. They used YOUR image without permission. It does not matter one bit if they used it for profit or not,

Originally Posted by hoydie17

So he gave me a template to use, and I sent the letter certified mail. Got a response by e-mail a few weeks later stating that they would cease using the photo immediately, but asked for my understanding that they would have to use up the remaining books with the photo before they could produce new ones.

I think you still have a case here and I think you can handle it yourself. You sent them a C&D letter and they basically said they would get around to it when they saw fit. I think you come up with a number in your head and call them back and say they are going to pay you for their use of your photo.

I'd also might make mention of how a few well placed e-mails or forum posts might make other railroad photographers see if their images have been used to, you kow, they longer they stall you.

Again, they used your image without permission. They shouldn't get a formal letter asking nicely that they stop it.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by FastFlyingVirginian

What the - no nudity? Well dang, mark THAT idea off the list... (scribbles in notebook)

Probably because there are some porn photos flying around the interwebs with a couple having sex on the ballast as a UP train rolls by.