|
|
Home
|
|
News Wire
|
|
LIVE Trains
|
|
Photographs
|
|
Railroads of Whitley Co., IN
|
|
Allen County Public Library
|
|
Links
|
|
Past Issues
|
|
Contact
|
|
|
Quick News
State acquires 150 miles of rail line for trails
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 9:56 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana will nearly double the size of its network of rail-trail corridors with the purchase of more than 150 miles of abandoned rail line, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.
The agency has agreed in principle with owners of the former Penn Central Rail Line to buy the abandoned railroad corridors, it said in a news release.
The cost of the purchase and when it might conclude was not disclosed.
The 150 miles of new trail corridors is located in 39 counties, including Wabash, across the state. Indiana currently has 173 miles of rail-trails.
‘‘The department's plan is to give the land to local governments and not-for-profit groups for future trail expansions,'' the agency said.
Counties receiving portions of the trail will be Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Boone, Cass, Clay, Clinton, DeKalb, Decatur, Delaware, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Hancock, Henry, Howard, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, LaGrange, Madison, Marshall, Miami, Montgomery, Morgan, Noble, Owen, Parke, Pike, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, St. Joseph, Tipton, Vigo Wabash, Wayne and Whitley.
The agency also has received $1.25 million from the Lilly Endowment for additional construction on five multi-use trails. The money will match $5 million in federal funds.
The sites receiving funding are the White River Greenway in Muncie, the Cardinal Greenway in five eastern counties, the Monon Trail in Westfield, the Pumpkinvine Trail from Middlebury to the Elkhart/LaGrange County line, and the Nickel Plate Trail in Howard, Miami and Fulton counties.
Source - Wabash Plain Dealer
|
|
Editorial
Nickel Plate @$%!
[Editors Note: This is a PRO- NKPHTS article. Please read on so that feelings are not hurt.]
Don't do it. You can't do it.
Wow. You can no longer print the phrase "Nickel Plate Road" without the fear a legal-vulture swooping down and pecking out your eyes. Oops. I just did it. I mean, you can no longer print Nickel Plate Road® without using a little "R" with a circle around it or stating that "The name "Nickel Plate Road" is a registered trademark of the Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society, Inc.
". Yup, it is trademarked by the NKPHTS. This isn't one of those little un-enforceable ®'s that you see on every personal web site on the internet either. I checked the validity of the trademark with the US government and there it was, big as life, all legal-like.
At first glance, this move seems illogical for a group attempting to perpetuate their interest. By that, I mean, it seems counter-productive to the free promotion of the NKP. Face it, for all the larger the NKP was, it is, today, a very well represented fallen-flag in books, video, collector merchandise, and models. Trademarking the nickname that, in part, makes this such an interesting railroad would appear to stifle that growth and production. I love the fact that a new NKP product appears in Model Railroader or Trains almost monthly. But what manufacturer wants to pay a licensing fee for every new product? Well, they can just label the model with some other railroad instead. I mean, is the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society going to have to re-label the 765's tender with Nickel Plate Road®?
Wait a minute, though. A quick review of the trademark usage requirements shows that there is no usage fee; there's just a labeling requirement. So, why trademark the phrase? The NKPHTS has always been one of the premiere preservation organizations. Likely, the NKP's current popularity is directly due to the actions of the NKPHTS over the last several decades. It is, therefore, most likely that the phrase was trademarked to protect the phrase from being grabbed up from some other organization, which might enforce a usage fee and truely stifle product growth.
At this point, I haven't seen any enforcement of the trademark against the average "Joe". I have not been contacted about labeling this web site about ownership of the phrase, so I truely believe that this was registered as a protective measure. The move protects the popular name from being used in an unflattering manner or from being trademarked by another company. However, my support will wane as soon as a dollar value is assigned to the useage of the phrase. I believe that would quickly stifle the available products out there for NKP fans.
All in all, I believe that this isn't too bad. Let me know what you think: Email Me
|
|
Feature
A New Future for 765
My last article called into question the plans of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society with regards to their beautiful steam engine, 765. It just seemed that the public wasn't being told anything and that made it appear that FWRHS wasn't making any progress towards getting the 765 out on the high-iron.
Fortunately, FWRHS Communications Manager, Mr. Kelly Lynch contacted me with the "skinny" on the current status of the organization and, also, the future of the organization.
What's Been Going On?
According to Mr. Lynch, FWRHS has been very close to getting 765 out already; but we've all heard that time and again. Well, it turns out that the organization has been so close as to have already printed up advertising, only to be asked to postpone indefinitely by the host railroad. In these cases, the FWRHS is out of a host railroad and out the money invested up to that point. Perhaps, more importantly, the reputation of the FWRHS is damaged as well; not with the host, but somewhat in public perception.
What's Happening, Now?
Let me first say this: Whatever changes are happening at FWRHS or whatever I have said about FWRHS should not be taken as an attack on past leadership. Let me also say, publicly, that past leadership has done a wonderful job; they got a beautiful old girl a fantastic makeover. They made it happen, even if it took a long time, which is a testament to their tenacity. Securing the ISTEA grant was a true coup de gras.
So, all that said, FWRHS is restructuring. The group has changed officers and created new roles. Glenn Brendel has assumed the office of President after Tom Nitza resigned the position. Mr. Nitza, who had performed very well as President during the restoration, is now in the role of Training Manager. Filling Mr. Brendel's vacancy in the role of Vice-President is Mr. Wayne York. Richard Melvin retains the role of Operations Manager, Steve Winicker retains the posistion of Mechanical Manager, and Kelly Lynch remains Communications Manager. The Society Treasurer is Michael Guptail and Mark St. Aubin and Henry Germann are Directors. Benjamin Sollenberger is now the Education Outreach Chairman while William Otter is the Underwriter Search Committee Chairman; this guy looks for dollars. Gary Bensman will serve as 765 Crew Chief.
What does this all mean? It means that the FWRHS is now looking beyond the restoration of 765, which has been finished for two-years. The group is now structuring in a manner to best serve the promotion of the group as a professional organization geared towards operations. That is, the FWRHS wants to run the 765. The past officers were great at restoring the engine; hopefully, the new leadership will be as effective towards getting the restored steamer out on the rails.
In conjunction with leadership changes, the FWRHS web site http://www.765.org has undergone a redesign. Billed as version 3.0 of the web site, the layout is clean and appears to be less download intensive. 2.0 was beautiful, but devastatingly slow for dial-up users as it was entirely graphical. Speaking of graphics, though, both 2.0 and the new 3.0 are loaded with gorgeous photos of NKP 765 under steam at all times of the day and also of the newly restored, absolutely beautiful NKP caboose 141. (If you've ever seen 1047 at Bellevue, OH, you owe it to yourself to also see 141; it's that good.) The Society also claims that poster-size prints are available for sale, too, for some of these photos.
Things are moving in the right direction at FWRHS. Check out their website, http://www.765.org to see what's new at FWRHS. If you have any questions, contact Mr. Lynch and ask; contact information is on their web site. And if you really want to be in the loop, join the Society...become a member. After several years out, I'm going to re-new.
|
