Frisco Power in Color

Guys:

I am sitting here with literally thousands of color slides of Frisco steam and diesel locomotives, rolling stock, structures, you name it, I've got 'em in spades. Now to clarify, many of these are images that have probably appeared in the Archive at one time or another, including original photos and "store bought" from Chione, Evda, Trackside, etc. Even at that, I think there are more than enough to put together a Volume 3 as we only need about 250 to complete the work. That said, I have no idea where a lot of these came from as there is no information on the slide mount, including, most importantly, who was the photographer. Now...I am more than happy to write the book, but I am going to need SERIOUS help identifying the location and subject shown in the photo. I CANNOT DO THIS MYSELF. Accordingly I am asking for volunteers to help me identify the photos so that I can come up with intelligent captions. If there are folks out there who are willing to help out, I would live to hear from you, but please DO NOT volunteer if you cannot actually put in the effort. I know this will sound snarky to some, but these books are a lot of work, take a lot of time, and should not be lightly undertaken. Again, I don't need writers, I need guys who are familiar enough with various parts of the railroad to know what they are looking at. So...if after reading this you think this might be something you would like to involve yourself with, please contact me via PM or directly at garp1027 (at) sbcglobal dot net.

Hope we can get this thing off the runway.

GS

 

Charlie:

Several individuals have volunteered to help out, and we certainly have more than enough material for Volume 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8... One of the obstacles we are going to have to overcome is just who took some of these photos and do we have permission to use them. At this point I am not certain how to do this, but right now I am pretty well occupied trying to pick out the best images. Laying my cards on the table, I can say with near certainty that I am going to avoid roster shots as much as possible in favor of showing trains in the "natural habitat." I think Lou Marre did an excellent job explaining the Frisco's roster in his landmark books. I like to look at trains.

GS

 

It's my understanding that if one owns (legally possesses) the original slide... it's yours to do what you want with it.

Reproducing/distribution of duplicates get a bit more entangled.

 

Strictly speaking, that's not the case. An artist actually has the legal right to retain the copyright even if an original work is sold. I've seen this happen on multiple
occasions, even a couple of times on e-bay auctions, where that was actually stipulated in the auction description.

Of course, many of the images we're talking about are taken by non-professional photographers, and many times there isn't a paper trail to know who owns the copyright,
even if you know who the photographer is.

There's also the problem of enforceablity of copyright. Today, every work is automatically copyrighted, but in order to enforce that copyright, you still have to register the
copyright with the copyright office. (I have a few works where the copyrights are actually registered, though the vast majority of the things I have created aren't).

Paul

 

Paul is correct. The reproduction rights to a work of art remains with the artist, regardless of who owns the work itself. I have been going through the slides I have here (I am guessing around 3,000) to find the ones I like best. The part of this I am worried about is having someone pop up claiming he wants to be paid because we used a photo without securing permission. Obviously, if the slide mount is stamped "Trackside Slides," "Al Chione" or some such, I will not be using it. For the rest, I am thinking the credit line should simply be "Frisco.org. Collection."

GS

 

PLEASE READ: After several discussions with the publisher, we have decided to go ahead with this project. I have enlisted the assistance of a handful of volunteers who have graciously indicated a willingness to help identify necessary details to round out photo captions, such as train number, location, date, etc. I am more than grateful for their generous offers.

Now, regarding the images: All images that will appear in this book will have come to me by way of the Frisco Archive, and will be credited as such unless the photographer's identity is also indicated. I have specifically removed from consideration all slides that are stamped with the names of commercial slide sellers such as Al Chione, Trackside Slides, Mike Bledsoe, etc., as well as those individuals with whom prior experience has suggested they would prefer not to have their material used. The exception here is Evda, as we do have by-your-leave to use these. Here is the tricky part, and this is the last time I am going to raise this issue: Many of the slides I have reviewed in the archive appear several times (I have at least six of one of them), which suggests that they have been duplicated, traded, etc., and it is impossible for me to know where they originated. However, if anyone "out there" has contributed original slides to the archive, has put his or her name on the mount and does not want the image to appear in print, please notify me by PM and I will respect your wishes. Further to this, if there are members who have slides squirreled away that we have not yet seen and would like to contribute, contact me and we will see what we can work out. A couple of caveats here: I do not need any more orange-and-white roster shots, nor do I plan to use anything from the BN era. I prefer "trains out on the road" shots as I believe these more more interesting, and in any event Lou Marre and his associates have done an outstanding job documenting the motive power roster in their earlier works. Also, please understand further that I cannot afford to provide free copies of the book to contributors, as books are expensive (even at my cost), and I would end up paying for the privilege of putting in a year's work at my own expense. I do plan, however, to donate a portion of my eventual payment to the Archive so that we can accumulate additional images down the road.

I am aware that all this may sound a bit, what shall we say, brusque, and I apologize for that, but we are now in the realm of business and not just a hobby activity. As such I want to be completely up-front on how things are going to work. If anyone has any questions or concerns I will be happy to respond directly, but in the meantime, this is a go. Stay tuned.

GS

 

Hi Greg:

As for the dupes of dupes and circuitous paths of slides copied hence no clue who the original photographer was: I think you're on the right path to simply say something like "From the Frisco.org Photo Archives". Works for me.

You also said:

"...nor do I plan to use anything from the BN era."

Bless you my son. Let the Frisco book be about the Frisco. There's plenty of BN books out there.

 

Count me in, I certainly would like any extra volumes. I wouldn't mind helping with identification, mine would be for special photo's like MOW, Track or Bridge. I certainly seen a LOT of track.

 

Well, here is a bit of news: I got quite a few slides from the publisher that I don't think we have seen previously, so not everything will be originating from the Archive. Also, the publisher has indicated that he would, indeed, like to organize around the diesel roster, so basically what this means is that trains powered by, say, F-units will be clustered together and not slotted into a more general format built around a time line. You will still like it, no worries.

GS

 

FA's. Think: LOTS of FA's.



(Only messin' with 'ya.) Anything you put together will be enthusiastically received by this Friscophile.

 

Yes we'll like anything. We seem to have a lag in new Frisco stuff, maybe soon.

 

As to the above, here is where I now am. There are a few species of diesels that are in short supply, so by way of shaking the trees, it appears that everybody who ever photographed an F- or an FA-unit immediately turned around and sold the image to Al Chione or some other commercial slide seller, meaning we only have a very few that are not already copyrighted. We have ZERO of the Davenport 44-ton; Whitcomb 44-ton; GE 45- and 70-ton; Baldwin VO-660 and DS4-4-1000; and Alco S4. If anybody's got slides of these units that are not already stamped with somebody else's copyright and is willing to contribute them (you'll get it back), let me know.

GS